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Recording Single Neurons' Action Potentials from Freely Moving Pigeons Across Three Stages of Learning
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Abstraction, Multiple Exemplar Training and the Search for Derived Stimulus Relations in Animals
Mark Galizio1, Katherine E Bruce1
1Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd, Wilmington, NC 28403 USA.
Perspectives on Behavior Science
|February 1, 2020
Summary
Animal research reveals specialized training conditions for derived stimulus relations, like symmetry, in pigeons. This research offers insights into the origins of these complex cognitive abilities.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Animal Cognition
- Stimulus Relations
Background:
- Derived stimulus relations, such as symmetry, are easily observed in humans.
- Comparable emergent relations are challenging to elicit in non-human species, requiring specific training and testing protocols.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine specialized conditions for demonstrating derived stimulus relations in animals.
- To explore how animal research can illuminate the nature and origins of derived stimulus relations.
Main Methods:
- Review of research based on Urcuioli's theory regarding symmetry in pigeons.
- Analysis of studies investigating the impact of multiple exemplar training on emergent relations.
Main Results:
- Urcuioli's theory successfully predicted emergent relations in pigeons by accounting for stimulus abstraction difficulties.
- Multiple exemplar training shows promise in establishing abstracted same-different responding in non-humans.
Conclusions:
- Current animal models of emergent stimulus relations lack the flexibility seen in humans.
- Reviewed research strategies offer methods for analyzing the origins of derived relational responding.
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