Discrimination by pigeons of mixture and uniformity in arrays of stimulus elements.
In 5 experiments, pigeons learned to discriminate uniform arrays of colored elements from mixed arrays containing 2 colors in various proportions. When only the uniform arrays were positive, mixture-negative gradients were obtained. When only the arrays containing equal numbers of red and blue elements were positive, mixture-positive gradients were obtained. When elements of different colors from 2 independent mixture-negative discriminations were recombined, mixture-negative gradients were obtained with the transfer patterns. When elements from a mixture-negative discrimination were combined with a new set of positive elements, responding was not suppressed. Appropriate combinations of the elements in mixture discriminations reduce responding, but the elements themselves do not acquire inhibitory properties.
Honig
W K
WK
Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011340:Problem Solving; D014163:Transfer, Psychology