Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

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

The freedom to choose may be an artifact of a preference for spatial location.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026

Same author

Episodic memory: Rats can remember the context.

Current biology : CB·2026

Same author

Episodic memory in animals?

Translational neuroscience·2025

Same author

Ephemeral reward task: Why is it so difficult for pigeons to learn it?

Journal of experimental psychology. Animal learning and cognition·2025

Same author

Peter Urcuioli's lasting contribution: Animal memory research and an important model of stimulus class formation.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2025

Same author

Complex relationship between response rate and preference in pigeons: Williams (1992) revisited.

Learning & behavior·2024

Same journal

Correction: Quantifying nonmnemonic strategies in two-alternative forced-choice delayed matching and nonmatching-to-position tasks in mice (Mus musculus) using automated video tracking technologies.

Learning & behavior·2026

Same journal

Unconditional stimulus deflation is stimulus specific.

Learning & behavior·2026

Same journal

What is possible and what is worth: Higher levers afford more work and enhance the value of leisure.

Learning & behavior·2026

Same journal

Behavioral impact of adolescent social isolation stress: A multidimensional assessment in male NMRI mice.

Learning & behavior·2026

Same journal

Behavioral characteristics of rapid visual categorization learning in domestic chicks.

Learning & behavior·2026

Same journal

Operant conditioning through positive reinforcement in the ghost crab (Ocypode quadrata).

Learning & behavior·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 23, 2025

An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice

An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice

Published on: January 22, 2016

The midsession reversal task: A theoretical analysis.

Thomas R Zentall¹

¹Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506-0044, USA. zentall@uky.edu.

Learning & Behavior

|April 29, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Pigeons exhibit unique error patterns in reversal learning tasks, unlike humans and rats. Their anticipatory and perseverative errors suggest a "reject learning" strategy may be involved in discrimination tasks.

Keywords:

Attention Learning to reject Midsession reversal Pigeons Timing

More Related Videos

RBDT: A Computerized Task System based in Transposition for the Continuous Analysis of Relational Behavior Dynamics in Humans

RBDT: A Computerized Task System based in Transposition for the Continuous Analysis of Relational Behavior Dynamics in Humans

Published on: July 17, 2021

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Dec 23, 2025

An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice

An Operant Intra-/Extra-dimensional Set-shift Task for Mice

Published on: January 22, 2016

RBDT: A Computerized Task System based in Transposition for the Continuous Analysis of Relational Behavior Dynamics in Humans

RBDT: A Computerized Task System based in Transposition for the Continuous Analysis of Relational Behavior Dynamics in Humans

Published on: July 17, 2021

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition

Published on: October 29, 2018

Area of Science:

Behavioral neuroscience
Animal cognition

Background:

Midsession reversal tasks involve switching correct stimuli (S1/S2) mid-session.
Humans and rats often use win-stay/lose-shift strategies, but pigeons do not.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate pigeons' response strategies in midsession reversal tasks.
Explore factors influencing anticipatory and perseverative errors in pigeons.
Examine the role of "reject learning" in discrimination tasks.

Main Methods:

Observing pigeon behavior in midsession reversal tasks with predictable and unpredictable reversals.
Manipulating stimulus value (S2 vs. S1) and the number of S1/S2 stimuli presented per trial.
Analyzing error patterns, specifically anticipatory and perseverative errors.

Main Results:

Pigeons make anticipatory errors before reversal and perseverative errors after reversal.
Unpredictable reversals do not prevent pigeons from timing.
Decreasing S2 stimulus value improves accuracy.
Varying S2 stimuli increases anticipatory errors; varying S1 stimuli increases perseverative errors.

Conclusions:

Pigeons' errors suggest a "reject learning" strategy, learning to avoid specific stimuli.
"Reject learning" may be crucial for simple simultaneous discrimination learning in pigeons.