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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 26, 2025

A Method for Investigating Change Blindness in Pigeons Columba Livia

A Method for Investigating Change Blindness in Pigeons Columba Livia

Published on: September 7, 2018

Visual alternation by pigeons: Learning to select or learning to avoid.

Wilson D Clayton¹, Daniel N Peng¹, Thomas R Zentall²

¹Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40506-0044, USA.

Learning & Behavior

|July 30, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Pigeons can learn visual alternation tasks by avoiding previously reinforced stimuli. This study shows pigeons adapt their behavior, demonstrating cognitive flexibility beyond simple repetition.

Keywords:

Alternation learning Learning to avoid Learning to select Pigeons

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Area of Science:

Animal Cognition
Behavioral Psychology
Comparative Cognition

Background:

The visual alternation task presents challenges for animals due to a natural tendency to repeat responses to rewarded stimuli.
Previous research suggests learning to avoid the most recently chosen stimulus may be key to mastering this task.

Purpose of the Study:

To test the hypothesis that pigeons learn the visual alternation task by avoiding the stimulus most recently reinforced.
To investigate the role of stimulus predictability in pigeons' ability to learn alternation.

Main Methods:

Three groups of pigeons were used: Standard (replication), New Correct (stimulus color changed after reinforcement), and New Incorrect (stimulus color changed after non-reinforcement).
The experiment manipulated stimulus color changes following correct responses to assess learning strategies.

Main Results:

Pigeons in the Standard and New Correct groups demonstrated learning of the visual alternation task.
Pigeons in the New Incorrect group showed significantly less evidence of learning the task.

Conclusions:

The results support the hypothesis that pigeons learn to avoid the most recently reinforced stimulus.
Pigeons exhibit cognitive flexibility, overcoming the tendency to repeat responses to learn complex alternation patterns.