title: Conditioning pigeons to discriminate naturally lit insect specimens.
abstract: Pigeons (Columba livia) were trained on a visual discrimination task using a novel apparatus which enabled pinned specimens of insects, illuminated by natural daylight, to be presented under a pecking key transparent to ultraviolet light. Three birds showed evidence of learning to discriminate between sets of wasp and fly specimens. This response transferred to specimens of four hoverfly species, the strength of the response varying between the different hoverfly species. This conditioning technique offers a promising means of analysing mechanisms of visual processing in birds that are relevant to theories of the evolution of camouflage and mimicry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. Electronic address: p.r.green@hw.ac.uk.
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gentle
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Peake
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Scudamore
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: McGregor
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK.
authors.forename: W H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Dittrich
keywords: Discrimination; Mimicry; Operant conditioning; Pigeon