Characteristics of forgetting functions in delayed matching to sample

Performance of pigeons in delayed matching-to-sample procedures was measured in terms of an index of discriminability derived from the difference between logarithms of ratios of choice responses to comparison stimuli following the different sample stimuli. Forgetting functions that plotted discriminability as a function of delay-interval duration were well described by a simple negative exponential function with two parameters, one describing initial discriminability of sample stimuli at zero delay (log d(0)) and the other describing rate of decrement in discriminability with increasing delay-interval duration (b). With the difference between wavelength values of the comparison stimuli held constant, a large difference between wavelengths of the sample stimuli resulted in a higher log d(0) value than that for a small difference between sample stimuli, without changing the rate of decrement in discriminability, b. An increase in the fixed-ratio requirement for sample-key responding produced an increase in log d(0) without affecting b, and interpolation of ambient illumination in the delay interval increased b without influencing log d(0). Both parameters changed when intertrial-interval duration was varied. The result of variation in the point of interpolation of ambient illumination in the delay interval indicated that levels of discriminability at longer delays were independent of discriminability levels at earlier delays, consistent with the properties of the exponential function. Functions relating performance to delay-interval duration were suggested to have two characteristics: discriminability of the sample stimuli in the absence of a delay between the stimuli and the behavior they occasion, and rate of attenuation in discriminability with increasing delay-interval duration.