Abstract
We conducted two experiments in order to investigate whether the presentation of food contingent on the imprinted responses could maintain these responses in chicks. In the first experiment, the presentation of food was contingent on the chicks' imprinted responses. Due to this contingency, chicks could maintain their imprinted responses as long as they received the contingency. In the second experiment, the presentation of food was contingent on either the chicks' non-imprinted responses or the chicks' responses directed towards the novel object. On these contingencies, the chicks' imprinted responses were rapidly extinguished. The results of the two experiments suggest that the contingency of food reinforcement may reflect the natural contingency of imprinting in chicks and contribute to the irreversibility of imprinting.
