title: Location serves as a conditional cue when harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus) solve object discrimination reversal problems.
abstract: We examined the capacity of harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus) to use spatial context (i.e., their tank) as a conditional cue to solve a two-choice visual discrimination reversal task. Seals were trained to touch one of two 3D objects. Two of four seals experienced a context shift that coincided with each of five reversals in the reward value of the two stimuli (i.e., a reversal of S+ and S-); these seals solved the six discriminations in significantly fewer trials than did seals that did not experience a context shift with the contingency reversal. Thus, harp seals use contextual cues when encoding information. The findings are discussed in terms of harp seals' adaptations to the pack-ice environment, the constraints of the learning tasks, and the nature of the subjects that were raised in captivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's. stephwalsh@gmail.com
authors.forename: Stephanie J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Walsh
authors.forename: Darlene M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Skinner
authors.forename: Gerard M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D046048:Seals, Earless / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*