Testing pigeon memory in a change detection task.
Six pigeons were trained in a change detection task with four colors. They were shown two colored circles on a sample array, followed by a test array with the color of one circle changed. The pigeons learned to choose the changed color and transferred their performance to four unfamiliar colors, suggesting that they had learned a generalized concept of color change. They also transferred performance to test delays several times their 50-msec training delay without prior delay training. The accurate delay performance of several seconds suggests that their change detection was memory based, as opposed to a perceptual attentional capture process. These experiments are the first to show that an animal species (pigeons, in this case) can learn a change detection task identical to ones used to test human memory, thereby providing the possibility of directly comparing short-term memory processing across species.
Wright
Anthony A
AA
Department of Neurobiologyand Anatomy, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas 77225, USA. anthony.a.wright@uth.tmc.edu
Katz
Jeffrey S
JS
Magnotti
John
J
Elmore
L Caitlin
LC
Babb
Stephanie
S
Alwin
Sarah
S
D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D010856:Columbidae; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D008568:Memory; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013997:Time Factors; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D014796:Visual Perception
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