Operant conditioning in the bat Phyllostomus hastatus.
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.
D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002685:Chiroptera; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006799:Housing, Animal; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D013016:Sound; D013045:Species Specificity