OPERANT CONDITIONING IN THE BAT PHYLLOSTOMUS HASTATUS^1,²

M. D. Beecher,

Corresponding Author

M. D. Beecher

NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTER—HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL AND BOSTON UNIVERSITY

Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197.Search for more papers by this author

M. D. Beecher,

Corresponding Author

M. D. Beecher

NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL PRIMATE RESEARCH CENTER—HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL AND BOSTON UNIVERSITY

Department of Psychology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197.Search for more papers by this author

First published: September 1971

https://doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1971.16-219

Citations: 5

^†

This research was supported by National Science Foundation Grants GB 7617 and GB 20103 to J. M. Harrison, by the Graduate School of Boston University, and by National Science Foundation Graduate and National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke Postdoctoral Fellowships to the author.

^‡

My thanks to the staff of the William Beebe Tropical Research Station (O. M. Buchanan, Director) in Trinidad, West Indies, where I collected the bats, and to Drs. Donald R. Griffin and Jack W. Bradbury for making the trip possible.

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Abstract

Bats of the species Phyllostomus hastatus were trained to press a pigeon key with food as the reinforcer. Patterns of responding under fixed-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval schedules of reinforcement were similar to those typically shown by other species. In a simple auditory discrimination, responding readily came under stimulus control. It is suggested that the behavioral method could be applied to various problem areas of bat behavior.

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Volume16, Issue2

September 1971

Pages 219-223

OPERANT CONDITIONING IN THE BAT PHYLLOSTOMUS HASTATUS^1,²

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OPERANT CONDITIONING IN THE BAT PHYLLOSTOMUS HASTATUS^1,²