We developed a touchscreen apparatus for pigeons and conducted a series of experiments that assessed its utility for free-operant procedures. The apparatus incorporated an on-board Windows computer, an electromechanical interface, an amplified speaker, and the touchscreen. We found that merely projecting a virtual key on the screen was insufficient; too many pecks missed the key. Adding a visual target in the center of the key and providing visual feedback for on-key pecks both failed to improve response accuracy. Accuracy was improved by imposing a timeout after off-key pecks or providing a physical boundary around the key. With the physical boundary, response accuracy was comparable to that obtained with conventional plastic keys, and response acquisition via autoshaping also was comparable. Mixing the color elements of the screen's pixels produced color stimuli, but the colors did not function as pure wavelengths of light in tests of stimulus generalization. Both colors and geometric shapes functioned as discriminative stimuli in multiple schedules with variable-interval and extinction components or rich and lean fixed-ratio components. In general, our touchscreen apparatus is a viable alternative to conventional pigeon chambers and increases the experimenter's options for visual stimuli, auditory stimuli, and the number and location of response keys.

中文翻译：

---

用于鸽子操作研究的触摸屏设备的设计与评估

我们为鸽子开发了一种触摸屏设备，并进行了一系列实验，评估其在自由操作程序中的效用。该设备包含一个板载 Windows 计算机、一个机电接口、一个放大扬声器和触摸屏。我们发现仅仅在屏幕上投射一个虚拟按键是不够的；太多啄错了关键。在按键中心添加视觉目标并为按键啄提供视觉反馈均未能提高响应准确性。通过在离键啄食后施加超时或在键周围提供物理边界来提高准确性。对于物理边界，响应精度与使用传统塑料按键获得的响应精度相当，通过自动整形获得的响应也具有可比性。混合屏幕的颜色元素' s 像素产生颜色刺激，但在刺激泛化测试中，颜色并不能作为纯光波长发挥作用。颜色和几何形状在具有可变间隔和消光成分或丰富和精益的固定比率成分的多个时间表中都起到区分刺激的作用。一般来说，我们的触摸屏设备是传统鸽室的可行替代品，并增加了实验者对视觉刺激、听觉刺激以及响应键的数量和位置的选择。