Cost does not prevent pigeons from investing in the future

Area of Science:

• Behavioral psychology
• Comparative cognition
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Operant behavior, a simple behavioral form, shows prospective characteristics, suggesting potential shared mechanisms with complex behaviors like planning.
• Discrepancies between operant and planning research paradigms hinder direct comparison of underlying cognitive mechanisms.
• An 'investing task' paradigm was developed to bridge this gap, requiring delayed rewards for specific actions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt and extend an investing task for pigeons to investigate operant behavior.
• To determine if investing behavior is influenced by response type (single vs. extended sequence).
• To assess if immediate stimulus changes facilitate performance and if this effect persists without the stimulus.

Main Methods:

• Pigeons performed an investing task, requiring a response to obtain food at a later time and different location.
• The study compared performance on single-response versus extended-sequence investing responses.
• The persistence of performance was evaluated after removing an initially facilitative immediate stimulus change.

Main Results:

• Pigeons successfully engaged in investing behavior regardless of whether it involved a single or multiple responses.
• Performance on extended investing sequences remained robust even with increased response requirements.
• Prior experience with an immediate stimulus change did not improve subsequent performance without it.

Conclusions:

• Basic learning mechanisms can support extended behavioral sequences that lack immediate consequences.
• The pigeon investing task serves as a viable model for studying behavioral control and its overlap with sophisticated cognitive functions.
• This research provides a foundation for exploring the common mechanisms underlying simple and complex prospective behaviors.