Representation of serial order in pigeons (Columba livia).
In Experiment 1, 2 groups of pigeons were trained to respond to either a 4-item (A→B→C→D) or 5-item (A→B→C→D→E) list. After learning their respective list, half of the subjects were trained on a positive pair with reinforcement provided when pairs were responded to in the order true to that of the original sequence (4-item: B→C; 5-item: B→D). The remaining subjects were trained on a negative pair with reinforcement provided for responding to the pairs in the order opposite to that learned in the original sequence (4-item: C→B; 5-item: D→B). Subjects in the positive pair condition learned their respective pair faster than did subjects in the negative pair condition. In Experiment 2, after reaching criterion on a 4-item list, subjects received 16 BC probe trials spread across 4 sessions of training. Subjects performed significantly above chance on the probe trials. The performance of our subjects in Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrates that, similar to monkeys, pigeons form a representation of the lists that they learn.
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand 9054.
Damian
D
Scarf
Michael
M
Colombo
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D010856:Columbidae; D003210:Concept Formation; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D012691:Serial Learning