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Picture fragment completion: priming in the pigeon
1Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. brodbeck@thunderbird.auc.laurentian.ca
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes
|December 31, 1997
Summary
Pigeons exhibit priming, a form of implicit memory, suggesting ancient memory systems. This study used a picture fragment completion test to demonstrate priming in pigeons, supporting its evolutionary basis.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Animal Behavior
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Implicit memory systems are thought to be evolutionarily ancient.
- Priming, a form of implicit memory, is expected in animals due to this evolutionary history.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate priming in pigeons using a picture fragment completion test.
- To explore the evolutionary basis of implicit memory systems.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Pigeons were trained on a picture fragment completion task with categorized stimuli.
- Experiment 2: Controlled for familiarity effects by varying warning stimuli.
- Experiment 3: Examined the temporal dynamics of the observed priming effect.
Main Results:
- Pigeons demonstrated significant priming, performing better on categorization tasks after viewing related stimuli.
- Results were not attributable to simple stimulus familiarity.
- The time course of the priming effect was analyzed.
Conclusions:
- Pigeons show evidence of priming, supporting the hypothesis of evolutionarily old implicit memory systems.
- The findings contribute to understanding cross-species cognitive mechanisms and memory.
- This research validates the use of animal models for studying fundamental memory processes.