Animal models of psychopathology: the establishment, maintenance, attenuation, and persistence of head-banging by pigeons

Investigators of animal models of psychopathology have typically introduced experimental conditions so that an animal's behavior progressively deviate s from a baseline of routine laboratory behavior toward a pattern which res embles human psychopathological behavior in some form of S, then R relation . The present experiments report consequential contingency procedures for b ringing head-to-wall head-banging by an animal under experimental control a nd analysis. The first two experiments examined the establishment and maint enance by reinforcement of head-banging by pigeons. The final two experimen ts examined the occurrence of head-banging, under conditions of extinction and limited reinforcement, when an alternative behavior, i.e., key-pecking, was reinforced under a variety of reinforcement schedules. Extinguished an d infrequently reinforced head-banging was found to recur under a variety o f conditions including the reinforcement of the more "normal" alternative b ehavior. To the extent that human patterns are governed by similar function al relations, the data may be of relevance in the analysis of the maintenan ce, attenuation, and recurrence of human patterns designated as pathologica l. Further, the permanent elimination of a disturbing pattern may be diffic ult, and the recurrence of a disturbing pattern might properly be considere d a likely and "normal" outcome of basic behavioral processes. (C) 1999 Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.