Marc Richelle (1930–2021) and the Study of Temporal Regulation of Behaviour in Animals

Abstract

This article discusses the contribution of Marc Richelle to the study of temporal regulation of behaviour in animals. Richelle was a pioneer of behavioural pharmacology in Europe in the 1960s, and some of his early pharmacological experiments, particular those involving chlordiazepoxide, are discussed. Richelle frequently tested drug effects on performance on fixed-interval (FI) and differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) schedules. Much of his later work, conducted with Helga Lejeune, involved cross-species comparisons of performance on FI and DRL, and often focused on potential differences between “timing competence” and “timing performance”. His work provided an unrivalled body of research on operant behaviour in different species, involving research on animals as different as cats and fish. Much of the work was reviewed in Richelle and Lejeune’s 1980 book Time in Animal Behaviour, which contained particularly influential accounts of collateral behaviour and inter-species comparisons.

Keywords

• operant conditioning
• fixed-interval
• drl
• cross-species comparisons
• psychopharmacology