Brief presentations are sufficient for pigeons to discriminate arrays of same and different stimuli.
Four pigeons first learned to discriminate 16-item arrays of same from different pictorial stimuli. They were then tested with reduced exposure to the pictorial arrays, brought about by changes in the stimulus viewing requirement under fixed-ratio (FR) and fixed-interval (FI) schedules. Increasing the FR requirement enhanced discriminative performance up to 10 pecks; increasing the FI requirement enhanced discriminative performance up to 5 s. Exposures to the stimulus arrays averaging only 2 s supported reliable discrimination. Pigeons thus discriminate same from different stimuli with considerable speed, suggesting that same-different discrimination behavior is of substantial adaptive significance.
Wasserman
Edward A
EA
Department of Psychology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52240, USA. ed-wasserman@uiowa.edu
Young
Michael E
ME
Peissig
Jessie J
JJ
D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D010856:Columbidae; D003210:Concept Formation; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D011930:Reaction Time; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule