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Stimulus-dependent emergence of understanding the 'same-different' concept in budgerigars
Jingshu Song1, Fangyuan Luo1, Carel Ten Cate2
1College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, People's Republic of China.
Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|December 10, 2024
Summary
Budgerigars can learn the "same-different" concept. Their ability to generalize this relational concept depends on the training method, showing either conceptual or perceptual similarity.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Animal Behavior
- Comparative Psychology
Background:
- Understanding relational concepts like 'same' and 'different' is key to human cognition.
- The extent to which non-human animals acquire these concepts and influencing factors remain largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the acquisition and generalization of the 'same-different' concept in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus).
- To determine factors influencing the learning and breadth of understanding of this relational concept in birds.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Budgerigars trained to discriminate same/different sizes, then tested for generalization across various visual categories.
- Experiment 2: Budgerigars trained to discriminate same/different colors, then tested for generalization within and across categories.
Main Results:
- Budgerigars successfully generalized the 'same-different' concept across dimensions after training with size discrimination.
- After training with color discrimination, most budgerigars generalized within the color category, but few generalized to other categories, suggesting perceptual similarity.
Conclusions:
- Budgerigars demonstrate the capacity for abstract relational concept learning.
- Generalization strategy (conceptual vs. perceptual similarity) is influenced by the nature of the training stimuli.
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