title: Testing pigeon memory in a change detection task.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiologyand Anatomy, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Texas 77225, USA. anthony.a.wright@uth.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Anthony A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magnotti
authors.forename: L Caitlin
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Elmore
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Babb
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alwin
mesh_terms: 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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