title: Validating the virtual string task with the gap test.
abstract: Relational concepts-such as connectedness-may be easy for human adults to appreciate; but, obtaining evidence of other species' understanding of connectedness has been challenging. One key test of connectedness involves an organism's responding to variants of the string task. Using a virtual string task, we gave pigeons a pair of strings from which to choose: one connected to a full dish of food and a second disconnected from another full dish of food. Our pigeons did not at first choose the connected string under conditions of non-differential reinforcement; later, the birds rapidly learned to choose the connected string under conditions of differential reinforcement. Our results replicate prior findings with real strings and food dishes, thereby demonstrating that pigeons can appreciate the connectedness between a string tether and a dish of food, and attesting to the utility and fidelity of the virtual string task.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, E11 Seashore Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Brzykcy
authors.forename: Edward A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Wasserman
authors.forename: Yasuo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nagasaka
authors.forename: Sacha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perez-Acevedo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002755:Choice Behavior; D010856:Columbidae; D032882:Comprehension; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014796:Visual Perception