Oddity learning in the pigeon: Effect of negative instances,correction, and number of incorrect alternatives     

Thomas R. Zentall  David E. Hogan  Charles A. Edwards 《Learning & behavior》1980,8(4):621-629

Pigeons have difficulty learning a standard oddity task involving two colors and three stimulus positions. In Experiment 1, performance on standard noncorrection trials was compared with performance on (1) rerun correction trials in which errors resulted in trial repetition, (2) noncorrection trials with added “negative instance” trials involving presentation of three stimuli, all of which matched, and (3) a combination of correction and added negative instance trials. Results indicated that negative instances, but not correction trials, significantly facilitated oddity performance. In Experiment 2, Phase 1, number of stimulus positions lit (three or five) was factorially manipulated with number of positions on which the odd stimulus could appear (three or five). An increase in number of positions lit, but not number of positions that could be odd, facilitated performance. In Phase 2, birds transferred from trials with five positions lit to four positions lit performed significantly better than controls; but in Phase 3, the same birds did not perform significantly better than controls when transferred to trials with three positions lit. In both experiments, analysis of performance as a function of response position indicated better performance at the end of each display than in the middle. These results, together with the group performance differences in Experiment 2, suggest that oddity learning in pigeons involves a size, or number, discrimination.  相似文献   

Effects of stimulus dimension and of trial and intertrial illumination on acquisition of a match/mismatch task by pigeons     

Charles A. Edwards  James S. Miller  Thomas R. Zentall  Joyce A. Jagielo 《Learning & behavior》1987,15(1):25-34

Birds were trained on a higher order conditional discrimination task, one that required birds to match samples and comparisons on some trials and to mismatch on other trials. Which task component was in effect was indicated by the level of chamber illumination (houselight-on and houselight-off instructions). Acquisition of the components of a color (red and green) match/mismatch task in the first half of the experiment was not differentially affected by the level of illumination associated with each task component, by houselight changes per se, or by the level of illumination during the intertriai interval (ITI). However, when shapes (plus and circle) were used to train the task in the second half of the experiment, performance on the houselight-cued task component exceeded performance on the dark-cued task component, and ITI illumination facilitated performance on both task components. These results suggest that attention to shape stimuli, but not to colors, may vary systematically as a function of chamber illumination level.  相似文献   

Coding of hedonic and nonhedonic samples by pigeons in many-to-one delayed matching     

Thomas R. Zentall  Lou M. Sherburne  Peter J. Urcuioli 《Learning & behavior》1995,23(2):189-196

In two experiments, pigeons were trained on many-to-one delayed matching in which samples of food and one hue were each associated with one shape comparison, and samples of no food and a different hue were each associated with a second shape comparison. When later tested with delays between sample and comparison stimuli, pigeons showed nonparallel delay functions, typically found with food and no-food samples (i.e., steeply declining food-sample delay functions, and relatively flat no-food-sample delay functions). Furthermore, the slopes of the hue-sample delay functions were similar to those on the food/no-food-sample trials. In Experiment 2, following many-toone delayed matching, when the hue samples were associated with new comparisons and then food and no-food samples replaced the hues, evidence was found for transfer of training indicative of the common coding of samples associated with the same comparison in original training. The transfer results suggest that the asymmetrical hue-sample functions resulted from the common coding of samples associated with the same comparison.  相似文献   

Matching-to-sample in pigeons: In the absence of sample memory,sample frequency is a better predictor of comparison choice than the probability of reinforcement for comparison choice     

DiGan KA  Zentall TR 《Learning & behavior》2007,35(4):242-251

In matching-to-sample, comparison choice should be controlled by the identity of the sample and, when the sample is not available, by the overall probability of reinforcement associated with each of the comparisons. In the present research, pigeons were trained to match a frequent sample (appearing on 80% of the trials) to one comparison (C _fr) and an infrequent sample (appearing on 20% of the trials) to the other (C _inf), with the number of reinforcements associated with each sample equated. In Experiment 1, the task was identity matching; in Experiments 2 and 3, it was symbolic matching. We asked whether, when control of comparison choice by the sample was reduced (by inserting a delay between the sample and the comparisons), pigeons would choose comparisons on the basis of (1) the number of reinforcements per comparison (and thus show no comparison bias), (2) the comparison associated with the more frequent sample during training (and show a preference forC _fr), or (3) the probability of reinforcement given a correct response (and show a preference forC _inf), or (4) inhibition produced by nonreinforced choice of the more frequently correct comparison (and show a preference forC _inf). Pigeons showed a significant tendency to chooseC _fr. In Experiment 3, we showed that this bias did not result from the effects of intertrial facilitation or interference. Thus, it appears that when control of comparison choice by the sample is reduced, pigeons’ choice is controlled not merely by the probability of reinforcement but also by overall sample frequency.  相似文献   

Simultaneous discrimination reversal learning in pigeons and humans: anticipatory and perseverative errors     

Rayburn-Reeves RM  Molet M  Zentall TR 《Learning & behavior》2011,39(2):125-137

Pigeons were trained on a two-choice simultaneous discrimination (red vs. green) that reversed midway through each session. After considerable training, they consistently made both anticipatory errors prior to the reversal and perseverative errors after the reversal, suggesting that time (or number of trials) into the session served as a cue for reversal. In Experiment 2, to discourage the use of time as a cue, we varied the location of the reversal point within the session such that it occurred semirandomly after Trial 10, 25, 40, 55, or 70. Pigeons still tended both to anticipate and to perseverate. In Experiment 3, we required 20 pecks to a stimulus on each trial to facilitate memory for the preceding response and sensitivity to local reinforcement contingencies, but the results were similar to those of Experiment 2. We then tested humans on a similar task with a constant (Experiment 4) or variable (Experiment 5) reversal location. When the reversal occurred consistently at the midpoint of the session, humans, like pigeons, showed a tendency to anticipate the reversal; however, they did not show perseverative errors. When the reversal location varied between sessions, unlike pigeons, humans adopted a win–stay/lose–shift strategy, making only a single error on the first trial of the reversal.  相似文献   

Present/absent sample matching in pigeons: Is comparison choice controlled by the sample stimulus or by differential sample responding?     

Janice E. Weaver  Brigette R. Dorrance  Thomas R. Zentall 《Learning & behavior》1999,27(3):288-294

In two experiments involving present/absent sample matching, we tested whether the visual stimuli or differential sample behavior served as the basis for comparison choice. In both experiments, one group (FR/DRO) was required to peck the present sample and to refrain from pecking the absent sample (as typically occurs with fixed duration present/absent samples), and the other group (FR/FR) was required to peck both samples. In Experiment 1, the samples were a black dot on a white field (present) and the white field alone (absent). In Experiment 2, the samples were a yellow hue (present) and a dark response key (absent). In both experiments, divergent retention functions were found only for the FR/DRO group. These results suggest that, in nonhedonic present/absent sample matching, it is the behavior directed toward the present sample, rather than the visual stimulus itself, that serves as the basis for comparison choice.  相似文献   

Assessment of setting in the behavioral ratings of preschoolers with and without high levels of activity     

Melissa Stormont  Sydney S. Zentall 《Psychology in the schools》1999,36(2):109-115

Parents report their preschoolers' excessive activity and inattention as early as age two. Unfortunately, most reports and ratings involve global assessments collapsed across settings. Research has not investigated specific behavior as a function of play, TV, meals, and sleep settings for preschool children. To this end, fifty‐six preschoolers (aged 3–5) were placed in a high active or comparison group based on a preschool rating scale. Individual types of behavior that differentiated between groups and an interaction of group with setting indicated that comparison preschoolers modulated changing activities during play and TV; whereas, preschoolers with hyperactivity demonstrated more stable activity across settings. The implications of these findings are discussed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.  相似文献   

Value transfer in a simultaneous discrimination by pigeons: The value of the S+ is not specific to the simultaneous discrimination context     

Brigette R. Dorrance  Daren H. Kaiser  Thomas R. Zentall 《Learning & behavior》1998,26(3):257-263

During simultaneous discrimination training, there is evidence that some of the value of the S⁺ transfers to the S^?. When the value of the S+ is altered outside the context of the simultaneous discrimination, two very different predictions are made concerning its effect on its S^?, depending on whether one views the S⁺ as an occasion setter or as a stimulus capable of transferring value. In four experiments, pigeons were trained with two similar simultaneous discriminations, A⁺B^? and C⁺D^?, and two single-stimulus trial types, A and C, (in which A always had greater nominal value than C). According to value transfer theory, on test trials, B should always be preferred over D, because B and D should be affected by the net values of A and C, respectively. According to an occasion setting account, however, D should be preferred over B because the presence of D signals a higher probability of reinforcement for responding to C than when C is alone, and/or the presence of B signals a lower probability of reinforcement for responding to A than when A is alone. In all four experiments, the pigeons preferred B over D, a result consistent with value transfer theory. Thus, an S^? can acquire value from an S⁺ even when that value is conditioned in a “context” different from that of the simultaneous discrimination.  相似文献   

Pigeons’ use of cues in a repeated five-trial-sequence, single-reversal task     

Rebecca M. Rayburn-Reeves  Thomas R. Zentall 《Learning & behavior》2013,41(2):138-147

We studied behavioral flexibility, or the ability to modify one’s behavior in accordance with the changing environment, in pigeons using a reversal-learning paradigm. In two experiments, each session consisted of a series of five-trial sequences involving a simple simultaneous color discrimination in which a reversal could occur during each sequence. The ideal strategy would be to start each sequence with a choice of S1 (the first correct stimulus) until it was no longer correct, and then to switch to S2 (the second correct stimulus), thus utilizing cues provided by local reinforcement (feedback from the preceding trial). In both experiments, subjects showed little evidence of using local reinforcement cues, but instead used the mean probabilities of reinforcement for S1 and S2 on each trial within each sequence. That is, subjects showed remarkably similar behavior, regardless of where (or, in Exp. 2, whether) a reversal occurred during a given sequence. Therefore, subjects appeared to be relatively insensitive to the consequences of responses (local feedback) and were not able to maximize reinforcement. The fact that pigeons did not use the more optimal feedback afforded by recent reinforcement contingencies to maximize their reinforcement has implications for their use of flexible response strategies under reversal-learning conditions.  相似文献   

Delayed matching in the pigeon: Interference produced by the prior delayed matching trial     

David E. Hogan  Charles A. Edwards  Thomas R. Zentall 《Learning & behavior》1981,9(3):395-400

Pigeons’ delayed matching performance on Trial n was examined as a function of whether the correct and incorrect comparison stimuli from Trial n?1 were maintained in the same role on Trial n (positive transitions), were reversed in role on Trial n (negative transitions), or were absent on Trial n (neutral transitions). Relative to neutral transitions, positive transitions did not significantly facilitate performance. Negative transitions, however, produced significant proactive interference on Trial n, and the magnitude of proactive interference was greater when the Trial n retention interval was 1 sec than when it was 0 sec. As the intertriai interval increased from 2 to 10 sec, the amount of interference dissipated. The results suggest that a prior delayed matching trial can serve as a significant source of forgetting but not a significant source of facilitation on an immediately following delayed matching trial.  相似文献