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Use of a single-code/default strategy by pigeons to acquire duration sample discriminations
Rebecca A Singer1, Emily D Klein, Thomas R Zentall
1Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. rasing2@uky.edu
Learning & Behavior
|March 3, 2007
Summary
Pigeons may use a default strategy in duration tasks, but this was an artifact of previous studies. New research shows pigeons clearly use this strategy when the task is unambiguous.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Animal behavior
Background:
- Pigeons may use a single-code/default strategy for duration discrimination.
- Previous studies suggested this strategy might be due to similarities between intertrial interval (ITI) and retention interval.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if pigeons adopt a single-code/default strategy when intertrial interval (ITI) and retention interval ambiguity is removed.
- To determine if increased sample salience influences strategy use in duration discrimination tasks.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1 used a 0-sec sample duration, which may have created an artifact.
- Experiment 2 trained pigeons with three non-zero duration samples (2, 8, and 32 sec) to eliminate ambiguity.
Main Results:
- A 0-sec sample duration in Experiment 1 may have led to inadvertent present/absent sample matching.
- Clear evidence for a single-code/default strategy was observed in pigeons trained with non-zero duration samples in Experiment 2.
Conclusions:
- The use of a 0-sec sample in duration discrimination tasks can create artifacts, potentially misinterpreting strategy use.
- When task ambiguity is eliminated and non-zero durations are used, pigeons demonstrate a clear preference for a single-code/default strategy.
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