Abstract
In four experiments, pigeons searched for a 3 × 3 matrix of small, identical forms within a 9 × 15 matrix composed of other repeated forms. In each session, all possible pairs of forms appeared. Percent correct and reaction time data were recorded. The stimulus sets comprised the letters of the alphabet (Experiment 1), U-shaped forms in four orientations (Experiment 2), 15 abstract forms composed of identical line segments (Experiment 3), and 3 abstract forms in four orientations (Experiment 4). Reaction times were relatively constant and uninformative. Percent correct data were analyzed by correlation, scaling, and cluster methods. The letter data correlated highly (r = 89) with results from a previous study in which letters were learned as individual targets; scaling and cluster results were also very similar for the two data sets. The data for rotated Us also corresponded with previous single-target results; matrices composed of mirror-image forms were very difficult to discriminate. The data for abstract forms suggested that connectedness, orientation, and symmetry are important determiners of discrimination in this situation. Taken together, the results identify a number of features significant for pigeon form discrimination; these features include relationally defined aspects, and suggest that processes controlling discriminability here do not differ markedly from those controlling discriminability in more common learning paradigms. The method is efficient and equates exposure of test stimuli, thus minimizing the sequential effects found when stimuli are learned serially.
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This research was supported m part by NSF Grant BNS-8025515. The data are drawn from the second author’s Master’s thesis at Brown
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Blough, D.S., Franklin, J.J. Pigeon discrimination of letters and other forms in texture displays. Perception & Psychophysics 38, 523–532 (1985). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03207061
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03207061