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Matching and oddity relational learning by pigeons (Columba livia): transfer from color to shape

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Abstract

Relational learning, as opposed to perceptual learning, is based on the abstract properties of the stimuli. Although at present there is no doubt that pigeons are capable of relational behavior, this study aims to further disclose the conditions under which it occurs. Pigeons were trained in an outdoor cage on a matching-to-sample or an oddity-from-sample task, with colored cardboard stimuli presented horizontally. The apparatus involved three sliding lids on which the stimuli were drawn and which, when displaced, revealed the reinforcement. The lids were either adjacent to each other or somewhat separated. Training sessions involved two colors, and test sessions six different colors (same dimension test), or six different shapes (different dimension test). One group of birds trained under the ‘adjacent’ condition failed when tested with new stimuli, but succeeded in both dimension tests after training under the ‘separate’ condition. Two other groups of birds succeeded in all tests after training under the latter condition. These results show that depending on procedural details, pigeons are or are not able to transfer from one visual dimension to another, thus extending previous related findings.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to J. D. Delius, A. A. Wright, S. H. Hurlbert, T. Czeschlik (chief editor of ‘Animal Cognition’), and three anonymous reviewers for useful suggestions on the manuscript, to M. C. Etchichury for facilitating the precise measurement of the grains, and to M. Aramburu, M. Cirulo, L. Giachetti, E. Gulin, G. Kamm, C. Kobashigawa, M. Ré, N. Smud and E. Vera for their cooperation and assistance. I thank C. Le Cornu for improving the English. The experiments comply with the Argentine current laws.

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  1. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (CONICET), Av. A. Gallardo 470, 1405, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Celia M. Lombardi

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Lombardi, C.M. Matching and oddity relational learning by pigeons (Columba livia): transfer from color to shape. Anim Cogn 11, 67–74 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-007-0087-2

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