Abstract
Pigeons were trained to discriminate between four keys. One provided food in the mornings, another provided food in the afternoons, and two never provided food. Three experiments were performed to determine whether pigeons could track food availability over a 24-h period. All the subjects appeared to demonstrate time-place associative learning. A fourth experiment was designed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the timing behavior. Lights-on time was shifted back by 6 h, and no decrease in performance was found during the first session following the phase shift. This suggests that a circadian type of timing mechanism with a self-sustaining oscillator mediates time-place learning over a period of 24 h. Further support for this notion was found in a fifth experiment, in which the subjects were tested in constant dim light. In that experiment, the subjects’ continued correct responding provides additional support for a self-sustaining circadian timer.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Referencks
Abe, H., &Sugimoto, S. (1987). Food-anticipatory response to restricted food access based on the pigeon’s biological clock.Animal learning & Behavior,15, 353–359.
Adler, H. E. (1963). Sensory factors in migration.Animal Behaviour,11, 566–577.
Aschoff, J. (1981). Free-running and entrained circadian rhythms. In J. Aschoff (Ed.),Handbook of behavioral neurobiology; Biological rhythms (Vol, 4, pp. 81–92). New York: Plenum.
Aschoff, J. (1989). Temporal orientation; Circadian clocks in animals and humans.Animal Behaviour,37, 881–896.
Beling, I. (1929). Über das Zeitgedächtnis der Bienen.Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Physiologie,9, 259–338.
Biedach, H., Faik, H., &Krebs, J. R. (1989). The effect of constant light and phase shifts on a learned time-place association in garden warblers (Sylvia borin); Hourglass or circadian clock?Journal of Biologica Rhythms,6, 353–365.
Biebacii, H., Gordijn, H., &Krers, J, R. (1989). Time-place learning by garden warblers,Sylvia borin.Animal Behaviour,37, 353–360.
Boulos, Z., &Logothetis, D. E. (1990). Rats anticipate and discriminate between two daily feeding limes.Physiology & Behavior,48, 523–529.
Church, R. M. (1978). The internal clock. In S. H. Hulse, H. Fowler, & W. K. Honig (Eds.),Cognitive processes in animal behavior (pp. 277–310). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Church, R. M. (1984). Properties of the internal clock. In J. Gibbon & L. Allan (Eds.),Timing and time perception (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Vol. 423, pp. 567–582), New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Daan, S. (1981). Adaptive daily strategies in behavior. In J. Aschoff (Ed.),Handbook of behavioral neurobiology, Biological rhythms (Vol. 4, pp. 275–298). New York: Plenum.
Daan, S., &Koene, P. (1981). On the timing of foraging flights by oystercatchers,Haemalapus ostralegus, on tidal mudflats.Netherlands Journal of Sea Research,15, 1–22.
Gallcstel, C. R. (1990).The organization of learning. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gibbon, J., &Church, R. M. (1984). Sources of variance in an information processing theory of timing. In H. L. Roilblat, T. G. Bever, & H. S. Terrence (Eds),Animal cognition (pp. 465–488). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gilbert, S. G., &Rice, D. C. (1979). NOVA SKED II: A behavioral notation language utilizing the Data General Corporation real-time disk operating system.Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation,11, 71–73.
Koltermann, R. (1974). Periodicity in the activity and learning performance of the honey bee. In L. B. Browne (Ed.),The experimental analysis of insect behavior (pp. 218–226). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Roberts, S. (1981). Isolation of an internal clock.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Anima! Behavior Processes,7, 242–268.
Rosenwasser, A. M., &Adler, N. Y. (1986). Structure and function in circadian timing systems: Evidence for multiple coupled circadian oscillators.Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews,10, 431–448.
Staddon, J. E. R. (1983).Adaptive behavior and learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stein, H. (1951). Untersuchungen über den Zeitsinn bei Vogeln.Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Physiologie,33, 387–403.
Stephan, F. K. (1984). Phase shifts of circadian rhythms in activity entrained to food access.Physiology & Behavior,32, 663–671.
Stephan, F. K. (1986a). Coupling between light- and feeding-entrained circadian rhythms in the rat.Physiology & Behavior,38, 537–544.
Stephan, F. K. (1986b). Interaction between light and feeding-entrainable circadian rhythms in the rat.Physiology & Behavior,38, 127–133.
Stephan, F. K., &Becker, G. (1989). Entrainment of anticipatory activity to various durations of food access.Physiology & Behavior,46, 731–741.
Wagner, H. O. (1956). Über Jahres-und Tages rhythmus bei Zug vogeln: II.Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie,13, 82–92.
Wilkie, D. M., Saksida, L., Samson, P., &Lee, A. (1994). Properties of time-place learning by pigeons,Columba livia.Behavioural Processes,31, 57–74.
Wilkie, D. M., &Willson, R. J. (1992). Time-place learning by pigeons,Columba livia.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Be-havior,57, 145–158.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Anita Lee, Piers Samson, and Anna Blasiak assisted with the research. The data reported in this paper comprised part of the first author’s MA thesis and were presented at the 1992 and 1993 meetings of the Canadian Society for Brain. Behaviour, and Cognitive Science.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Saksida, L.M., Wilkie, D.M. Time-of-day discrimination by pigeons,Columba livia . Animal Learning & Behavior 22, 143–154 (1994). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199914
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199914