Multiple-pair training enhances transposition in pigeons

We studied transposition in pigeons by training them to select the smaller (or the larger) of a pair of circles. In training, different groups of pigeons were given one pair, two pairs, or three pairs of circles along the size dimension. Testing included two stimulus pairs for which, according to theoretical postdiscrimination generalization gradients, transposition should decrease from one-pair to two-pair to three-pair training. On the basis of the results of our earlier study (Lazareva, Wasserman, & Young, 2005) and contrary to these predictions, we expected that transposition should increase from one-pair to two-pair to three-pair training. We found that multiple-pair discrimination training enhanced transposition, which, on average, rose from 47% (one-pair training) to 52% (two-pair training) to 64% (three-pair training). In addition, we found that the overall similarity of the testing pair to the training pair(s) modulated the strength of relational responding. These results demonstrate that encountering multiple instances of a rule leads to stronger relational learning, even when reinforcement history predicts the opposite trend. These results also provide strong evidence against stimulus generalization as the sole determinant of relational responding in transposition.