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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Recording Single Neurons' Action Potentials from Freely Moving Pigeons Across Three Stages of Learning
Published on: June 2, 2014
Pigeons learn stimulus identity and stimulus relations when both serve as redundant, relevant cues during
Brett M Gibson1, Edward A Wasserman
1Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1407, USA. brett-gibson@uiowa.edu
Abstract:
The authors taught pigeons to discriminate displays of 16 identical items from displays of 16 nonidentical items. Unlike most same-different discrimination studies--where only stimulus relations could serve a discriminative function--both the identity of the items and the relations among the items were discriminative features of the displays. The pigeons learned about both stimulus identity and stimulus relations when these 2 sources of information served as redundant, relevant cues. In tests of associative competition, identity cues exerted greater stimulus control than relational cues. These results suggest that the pigeon can respond to both specific stimuli and general relations in the environment.
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