Bird Food Stimuli Experiments

The most famous bird food stimuli experiments were done by B.F. Skinner at Harvard University in the 1930s. Bird food stimuli experiments are conditioning experiments. With the use of conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus, scientists can positively reinforce desired behavior, and discourage undesired behavior. Operant conditioning helps scientists study different types of behaviors that birds are capable of learning.

  1. The Skinner Box

    • B.F. Skinner's experiments on pigeons consisted of an operant conditioning chamber that has one or more levers that an animal can press, stimulus lights, and places in which food can be delivered. Operant conditioning rewards an act that approaches a new and desired behavior in the test subject. During the experiment a hungry pigeon is housed in the box and soon learns that when a lever is pressed, a light goes on and food will appear. The bird soon makes the connection between the light shining and the presence of food. Then the pigeon will start pecking for food whenever it sees the light.

    Learned Social Behavior

    • Feeding site preferences were taught to juvenile Burmese red junglefowl. By exposing the birds to videotapes of other Burmese red junglefowl feeding from food dishes that were visually distinct, they began to prefer eating out of food dishes of the type that they had observed the others eating from. For their behavior to be influenced in such a way, they needed to watch for a specific period and be offered food in several dishes, some of which were marked similarly to the ones that they observed other junglefowl eating out of.

    Sound Experiment

    • In this experiment, the sounds of tapping are used to stimulate domestic chicks to eat. The more the sound accompanied their feeding, the more they are likely to eat. The tapping is another type of social learning, as it imitates the sounds of mother hens eating. If the chicks hear the sound, they are encouraged to eat.