Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

A prototype effect and categorization of artificial polymorphous stimuli in pigeons

M Jitsumori1

  • 1Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, Faculty of Letters, Chiba University, Japan. masako@cogsci.l.chiba-u.ac.jp

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes
|October 1, 1996
PubMed
Summary

Pigeons showed stronger discrimination for base patterns than extreme stimuli in a feature-based task. A distance-from-prototype model explains this prototype effect in visual discrimination learning.

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

Orientation discrimination and categorization of photographs of natural objects by pigeons.

Behavioural processes·2014
Same author

Effects of grammar instruction and fluency training on the learning of the and a by native speakers of japanese.

The Analysis of verbal behavior·2012
Same author

[Advances in the experimental analysis of behavior: issues of choice behavior, comparative cognition, and human language].

Shinrigaku kenkyu : The Japanese journal of psychology·1994
Same author

Discrimination of artificial polymorphous categories by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology·1994
Same author

Directed forgetting of elements in compound samples.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·1992
Same author

Naming, rehearsal, and interstimulus interval effects in memory processing.

Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition·1990

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Animal Behavior
  • Computational Neuroscience

Background:

  • Artificial polymorphous stimuli are used to study categorization.
  • Understanding how animals learn complex visual discriminations is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate pigeons' ability to discriminate complex artificial stimuli.
  • To determine if a prototype effect influences discrimination performance.
  • To test predictive models of categorization.

Main Methods:

  • Pigeons performed go-no-go and choice discrimination tasks with stimuli varying across 3 features.
  • Stimuli were generated from base patterns (prototypes) through systematic transformations.
  • Transfer tests included novel stimuli and distorted versions of trained stimuli.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Discrimination was strongest between base patterns, not extreme stimuli.
  • A distance-from-prototype rule was supported by the findings.
  • A distance-from-prototype model best explained the observed discrimination patterns.

Conclusions:

  • Pigeons exhibit a prototype effect in discriminating complex artificial stimuli.
  • Categorization strategies may rely on proximity to a central prototype.
  • Distance-from-prototype models provide a robust framework for understanding visual learning in pigeons.