Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Category discrimination by pigeons using five polymorphous features.

L Von Fersen, S E Lea

    Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
    |September 1, 1990
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Related Concept Videos

    You might also read

    Related Articles

    Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

    Sort by
    Same author

    Through the looking glass: how do marked dolphins use mirrors and what does it mean?

    Animal cognition·2022
    Same author

    Unexpected discrimination strategy used by pigeons.

    Behavioural processes·2014
    Same author

    Images of conspecifics as categories to be discriminated by pigeons and chickens: Slides, video tapes, stuffed birds and live birds.

    Behavioural processes·2014
    Same author

    The McCollough effect in pigeons: tests of persistence and spatial-frequency specificity.

    Behavioural processes·2014
    Same author

    Comparative cognition: representations and processes in learning and memory.

    Annual review of psychology·2010
    Same author

    Lateralization of visuospatial processing in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus).

    Behavioural brain research·2000
    Same journal

    The Genoeconomics of Impulsive Intertemporal Choice: A Critical Review.

    Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
    Same journal

    Shaping the extinction burst: Increasing its probability and preventing its emergence across topographies.

    Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
    Same journal

    Evaluating the combined effects of effort and probability on monetary discounting.

    Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
    Same journal

    An improved translational approach to studying persistence-strengthening effects of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior.

    Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
    Same journal

    Interactions between the effects of food and water motivating operations on concurrent food- and water-reinforced responding in mice.

    Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
    Same journal

    Odor-visual and visual-visual matching to sample with dogs.

    Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
    See all related articles

    Pigeons learned to discriminate complex visual scenes based on multiple features. Reversing reinforcement for one feature generalized learning to similar stimuli but not to un-reversed features, challenging the notion of concept learning.

    Area of Science:

    • Cognitive Psychology
    • Animal Behavior
    • Perception

    Background:

    • Understanding how animals learn and generalize complex information is crucial.
    • Previous research explored feature-based discrimination in avian models.
    • The role of specific feature reversals in concept formation remains debated.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate pigeon's ability to discriminate natural scenes based on multiple dimensions.
    • To examine the generalization of learning following feature-specific reversal training.
    • To determine if pigeons form abstract concepts or learn specific feature associations.

    Main Methods:

    • Eight pigeons were trained to discriminate between sets of natural scene photographs.
    • Stimuli varied across five binary dimensions (site, weather, distance, orientation, height).

    Related Experiment Videos

  • Reversal training was introduced on a subset of stimuli, altering reinforcement contingencies for a single feature.

    • Main Results:

    • Seven of eight pigeons successfully learned the initial discrimination, responding to all five features.
    • Response rates correlated with the number of positive feature values.
    • Reversal training was learned, and generalized to novel stimuli, but only for the reversed feature.

    Conclusions:

    • Pigeons demonstrated feature-specific learning and generalization rather than abstract concept formation.
    • Reversal training on a subset of stimuli influenced generalization selectively.
    • The findings suggest limitations in attributing concept learning to pigeons under these conditions.