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Generalized, cross-modal, and incrementing non-matching-to-sample in rats. Learn Behav 2023; 51:88-107. [PMID: 36697934 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-023-00571-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Same/different concept learning has been demonstrated in previous research in rats using matching- and non-matching-to-sample procedures with olfactory stimuli. In Experiment 1, rats were trained on the non-matching-to-sample procedure with either three-dimensional (3D plastic objects; n = 3) or olfactory (household spices, n = 5) stimuli, then tested for transfer to novel stimuli of the same, and then the alternate, modality. While all three rats trained with olfactory stimuli showed generalized non-matching to novel odors, only one rat learned the 3D relation and showed generalized transfer to novel objects. Importantly, in this rat the 3D non-matching relation then immediately transferred to odors. In contrast, rats trained with scents did not show transfer to novel 3D stimuli until after training with one or two 3D stimulus sets. In Experiment 2, four rats were trained on an incrementing non-matching-to-sample task featuring 3D plastic objects as stimuli (3D Span Task). Responses to session-novel stimuli resulted in reinforcement. Only two rats learned the 3D Span Task; one rat performed with high accuracy even with up to 17 session-novel objects in a session. While these findings emphasize the exceptional olfactory discrimination of rats relative to that with 3D/tactile/visual cues, they also show that relational learning can be demonstrated in another modality in this species. Further, the present study provides some evidence of cross-modal transfer of relational responding in rats.
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2
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Same/different concept learning by primates and birds. Learn Behav 2021; 49:76-84. [PMID: 33742425 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-020-00456-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Same/different abstract-concept learning experiments were conducted with two primate species and three avian species by progressively increasing the size of the training stimulus set of distinctly different pictures from eight to 1,024 pictures. These same/different learning experiments were trained with two pictures presented simultaneously. Transfer tests of same and different learning employed interspersed trials of novel pictures to assess the level of correct performance on the very first time of subjects had seen those pictures. All of the species eventually performed these tests with high accuracy, contradicting the long-accepted notion that nonhuman animals are unable to learn the concept of same/different. Capuchin and rhesus monkeys learned the concept more readily than did pigeons. Clark's nutcrackers and black-billed magpies learned as readily as monkeys, and even showed a slight advantage with the smallest training stimulus sets. Those tests of same/different learning were followed by delay procedures, such that a delay was introduced after the subjects responded to the sample picture and before the test picture. In the sequential same/different task, accuracy was shown to diminish when the stimulus on a previous trial matched the test picture previously shown on a different trial. This effect is known as proactive interference. The pigeons' proactive interference was greater at 10-s delays than 1-s delays, revealing time-based interference. By contrast, time delays had little or no effect on rhesus monkeys' proactive interference, suggesting that rhesus monkeys have better explicit memory of where and when they saw the potential interfering picture, revealing better event-based memory.
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Smirnova AA, Obozova TA, Zorina ZA, Wasserman EA. How do crows and parrots come to spontaneously perceive relations-between-relations? Curr Opin Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.11.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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5
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Webb EK, Saccardo CC, Poling A, Cox C, Fast CD. Rapidly training African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys ansorgei) with multiple targets for scent detection. Behav Processes 2020; 174:104085. [PMID: 32068141 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2019] [Revised: 01/14/2020] [Accepted: 02/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Since 1997, APOPO, a non-profit organization based in Tanzania, has deployed African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys ansorgei) to detect landmines in post-conflict areas. More recent research suggests the pouched rats can also be trained to detect tuberculosis in human sputum samples. Despite proven success on both tasks, the potential impact of each rat is limited by the required training time and constraint to a single target odor. The aim of this project was to establish a technique to rapidly train pouched rats to detect multiple odor targets. Eight pouched rats were trained to detect five unrelated target odors in Experiment 1. In addition to training duration, we measured maintenance of all odor targets. In Experiment 2, we examined response persistence under conditions of extinction. Experiment 3 investigated whether refresher sessions before tests would maintain detection accuracy. The animals mastered all odor targets in significantly fewer sessions than APOPO's operational rats require to master a single target odor. Importantly, rats demonstrated strong discrimination between targets and non-targets despite the potential for interference and forgetting, suggesting pouched rats can be trained to detect at least five targets simultaneously. These results have the potential to increase the impact of each detection rat by both decreasing training time and expanding operational versatility, e.g., a single rat could be trained to detect multiple diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisabeth K Webb
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Garland Hall 224, 2441 East Hartford Ave, 53211, Milwaukee, WI, United States.
| | - Caterina Caneva Saccardo
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Garland Hall 224, 2441 East Hartford Ave, 53211, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Alan Poling
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Garland Hall 224, 2441 East Hartford Ave, 53211, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Christophe Cox
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Garland Hall 224, 2441 East Hartford Ave, 53211, Milwaukee, WI, United States
| | - Cynthia D Fast
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Garland Hall 224, 2441 East Hartford Ave, 53211, Milwaukee, WI, United States
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Vernouillet A, Kelly DM. Individual exploratory responses are not repeatable across time or context for four species of food-storing corvid. Sci Rep 2020; 10:394. [PMID: 31941921 PMCID: PMC6962162 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-56138-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Accepted: 12/02/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Exploration is among one of the most studied of animal personality traits (i.e., individual-level behavioural responses repeatable across time and contexts). However, not all species show clear evidence of this personality trait, and this is particularly so for members of the Corvidae family. We assessed the exploratory behaviour of four food-caching corvid species: pinyon jays (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus), Clark's nutcrackers (Nucifraga columbiana), California scrub jays (Aphelocoma californica), and black-billed magpies (Pica hudsonia). Contextual repeatability was assessed through examining behavioural measures during the Novel Environment task and the Novel Object task, whereas temporal repeatability was assessed by examining changes in these measures over repeated trials. Our results suggest that, for corvids, an individual's exploratory behaviour was not repeatable across contexts or over time. Hence, we found no evidence that exploration constitutes a personality trait for these species of corvid. We did find differences in exploratory behaviour, at a species level, that may be explained by relative reliance on cached food.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alizée Vernouillet
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
| | - Debbie M Kelly
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. .,Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
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7
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Lazarowski L, Goodman A, Galizio M, Bruce K. Effects of set size on identity and oddity abstract-concept learning in rats. Anim Cogn 2019; 22:733-742. [PMID: 31147849 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-019-01270-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2019] [Revised: 05/16/2019] [Accepted: 05/23/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Match (MTS) and non-match-to-sample (NMTS) procedures are used to assess concepts of identity and oddity across species and are measured by transfer performance to novel stimuli. The number of exemplars used in training (set size) has been shown to affect learning with evidence of larger set sizes promoting concept learning in several species. The present study explored the effects of set size and procedure on concept learning in rats using olfactory stimuli. Concept learning was assessed for 20 rats via transfer tests consisting of novel stimuli after rats were initially trained to either MTS or NMTS with two or ten stimuli as exemplars. No difference was found in acquisition or transfer between MTS and NMTS, but rats trained with ten stimuli performed better on novel transfer tests than rats trained with two. When set size was expanded for rats originally trained with two stimuli and rats were re-tested with ten novel stimuli, performance showed full transfer demonstrating that training with multiple exemplars facilitates concept learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Lazarowski
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA.,Canine Performance Sciences, Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn, AL, USA
| | - Adam Goodman
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA.,Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA
| | - Mark Galizio
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA
| | - Katherine Bruce
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA.
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Kyonka EGE, Subramaniam S. Translating Behavior Analysis: a Spectrum Rather than a Road Map. Perspect Behav Sci 2018; 41:591-613. [PMID: 31976415 PMCID: PMC6701482 DOI: 10.1007/s40614-018-0145-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Much has been written about the potential benefits of translational research in behavior analysis, but a lack of consensus about what constitutes "translational" creates a barrier to effective knowledge-practice innovation within the discipline and across other sciences. We propose a tiered system, adapted from a biomedical translational pathway, for classifying behavior analysis research on a basic-applied spectrum. Tier 0 is blue sky basic science in which the subjects, behaviors, stimuli, and settings are selected for convenience. Tier 1 is use-inspired basic science with a socially important end game and research subject. Tier 2 is solution-oriented research that attempts to solve a specific problem in a socially important subject, but 1 or more aspects of the research are selected for purposes of experimental control rather than social importance. Tier 3 is applied behavior analysis research that studies a problem of social significance for the subject and involves behaviors, stimuli, and settings that are socially important. Tier 4 is impact assessment in which behavioral technology is applied with a direct benefit to society. We provide examples of behavior-analytic research in each tier and evaluate the potential benefits of organizing behavior analysis in this way.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth G. E. Kyonka
- School of Psychology and Behavioural Science, University of New England, Psychology Lane S 6 First Floor, Armidale, NSW 2351 Australia
| | - Shrinidhi Subramaniam
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD USA
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Miller RR, Polack CW. Sources of maladaptive behavior in 'normal' organisms. Behav Processes 2018; 154:4-12. [PMID: 29274378 PMCID: PMC6013324 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.12.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2017] [Revised: 12/08/2017] [Accepted: 12/18/2017] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
A basic assumption of most researchers is that behavior is generally functional, and indeed, in most instances the function is obvious. But in a number of cases, some behaviors of neurophysiologically 'normal' organisms appear to be maladaptive. Considerable research has been conducted to understand the basis of such behavior as well as how the frequency of such behavior can be reduced. Here we provide a brief panoramic review of the major sources of maladaptive behavior in neurophysiologically 'normal' organisms: a) altered environmental contingencies relative to those faced by ancestral generations in their environment of evolutionary adaptation, b) altered environmental contingencies within the lifespan of the animal, c) linked behaviors in which the dysfunctional behavior is a linked companion of a more valuable beneficial trait, and d) the labeling of some behaviors as 'maladaptive' when more careful examination finds that they provide net benefit. Most of our attention is on the consequences of altered contingencies across and within a generation, with altered contingencies within a generation constituting a form of associative interference. The central issue in these two cases can be framed in terms of insufficient or excessive transfer of training resulting in maladaptive behavior. We discuss the functional basis of successful and unsuccessful near transfer (i.e., stimulus and response generalization) and far transfer (including rule learning and abstraction).
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralph R Miller
- Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, United States.
| | - Cody W Polack
- Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, United States
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Abstract
Martinho and Kacelnik (2016) imprinted newly hatched ducklings (Anas platyrhynchos domestica) with a moving pair of either same or different objects, and following only one session, the ducklings accurately transferred the same/different relationship to novel object pairs that maintained the training relationship. This rapid learning and transfer of the concepts same and different far outstrips the more gradual learning of these basic concepts by animals in associative-learning tasks in which reinforcement is given for correct responses.
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Galizio M, Bruce KE. Abstraction, Multiple Exemplar Training and the Search for Derived Stimulus Relations in Animals. Perspect Behav Sci 2018; 41:45-67. [PMID: 32004363 PMCID: PMC6701487 DOI: 10.1007/s40614-017-0112-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Symmetry and other derived stimulus relations are readily demonstrated in humans in a variety of experimental preparations. Comparable emergent relations are more difficult to obtain in other animal species and seem to require certain specialized conditions of training and testing. This article examines some of these conditions with an emphasis on what animal research may be able to tell us about the nature and origins of derived stimulus relations. We focus on two areas that seem most promising: 1) research generated by Urcuioli's (2008) theory of the conditions necessary to produce symmetry in pigeons, and 2) research that explores the effects of multiple exemplar training on emergent relations. Urcuioli's theory has successfully predicted emergent relations in pigeons by taking into account their apparent difficulty in abstracting the nominal training stimulus from other stimulus properties such as location and temporal position. Further, whereas multiple exemplar training in non-humans has not consistently yielded arbitrarily-applicable relational responding, there is a growing body of literature showing that it does result in abstracted same-different responding. Our review suggests that although emergent stimulus relations demonstrated in non-humans at present have not yet shown the flexibility or generativity apparent in humans, the research strategies reviewed here provide techniques that may permit the analysis of the origins of derived relational responding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Galizio
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd, Wilmington, NC 28403 USA
| | - Katherine E. Bruce
- Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd, Wilmington, NC 28403 USA
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12
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Comparing cognition by integrating concept learning, proactive interference, and list memory. Learn Behav 2018; 46:107-123. [PMID: 29492785 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-018-0316-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
This article describes an approach for training a variety of species to learn the abstract concept of same/different, which in turn forms the basis for testing proactive interference and list memory. The stimulus set for concept-learning training was progressively doubled from 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 . . . to 1,024 different pictures with novel-stimulus transfer following learning. All species fully learned the same/different abstract concept: capuchin and rhesus monkeys learned more readily than pigeons; nutcrackers and magpies were at least equivalent to monkeys and transferred somewhat better following initial training sets. A similar task using the 1,024-picture set plus delays was used to test proactive interference on occasional trials. Pigeons revealed greater interference with 10-s than with 1-s delays, whereas delay time had no effect on rhesus monkeys, suggesting that the monkeys' interference was event based. This same single-item same/different task was expanded to a 4-item list memory task to test animal list memory. Humans were tested similarly with lists of kaleidoscope pictures. Delays between the list and test were manipulated, resulting in strong initial recency effects (i.e., strong 4th-item memory) at short delays and changing to a strong primacy effect (i.e., strong 1st-item memory) at long delays (pigeons 0-s to 10-s delays; monkeys 0-s to 30-s delays; humans 0-s to 100-s delays). Results and findings are discussed in terms of these species' cognition and memory comparisons, evolutionary implications, and future directions for testing other species in these synergistically related tasks.
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Bruce K, Dyer K, Mathews M, Nealley C, Phasukkan T, Prichard A, Galizio M. Successive odor matching- and non-matching-to-sample in rats: A reversal design. Behav Processes 2017; 155:26-32. [PMID: 28713029 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2017] [Revised: 07/04/2017] [Accepted: 07/09/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
There is a growing body of research on matching- and non-matching-to-sample (MTS, NMTS) relations with rats using olfactory stimuli; however, the specific characteristics of this relational control are unclear. In the current study we examine MTS and NMTS in rats with an automated olfactometer using a successive (go, no-go) procedure. Ten rats were trained to either match- or non-match-to-sample with common scents (apple, cinnamon, etc.) as olfactory stimuli. After matching or non-matching training with four odorants, rats were tested for transfer twice with four new odorants on each test. Most rats trained on MTS showed immediate transfer to new stimuli, and most rats trained on NMTS showed full transfer by the second set of new odors. After meeting criterion on the second transfer test, the contingencies were reversed with four new odor stimuli such that subjects trained on matching were shifted to non-matching and vice versa. Following these reversed contingencies, the effects of the original training persisted for many trials with new odorants. These data extend previous studies on same-different concept formation in rats, showing strong generalization requiring few exemplars. The critical role of olfactory stimuli is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Bruce
- University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA.
| | - Katherine Dyer
- University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA
| | - Michael Mathews
- University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA
| | - Catharine Nealley
- University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA
| | - Tiffany Phasukkan
- University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA
| | - Ashley Prichard
- University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA
| | - Mark Galizio
- University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Rd., Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA
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Wright AA, Magnotti JF, Katz JS, Leonard K, Vernouillet A, Kelly DM. Corvids Outperform Pigeons and Primates in Learning a Basic Concept. Psychol Sci 2017; 28:437-444. [PMID: 28151701 DOI: 10.1177/0956797616685871] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Corvids (birds of the family Corvidae) display intelligent behavior previously ascribed only to primates, but such feats are not directly comparable across species. To make direct species comparisons, we used a same/different task in the laboratory to assess abstract-concept learning in black-billed magpies ( Pica hudsonia). Concept learning was tested with novel pictures after training. Concept learning improved with training-set size, and test accuracy eventually matched training accuracy-full concept learning-with a 128-picture set; this magpie performance was equivalent to that of Clark's nutcrackers (a species of corvid) and monkeys (rhesus, capuchin) and better than that of pigeons. Even with an initial 8-item picture set, both corvid species showed partial concept learning, outperforming both monkeys and pigeons. Similar corvid performance refutes the hypothesis that nutcrackers' prolific cache-location memory accounts for their superior concept learning, because magpies rely less on caching. That corvids with "primitive" neural architectures evolved to equal primates in full concept learning and even to outperform them on the initial 8-item picture test is a testament to the shared (convergent) survival importance of abstract-concept learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony A Wright
- 1 Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
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Santolin C, Rosa-Salva O, Regolin L, Vallortigara G. Generalization of visual regularities in newly hatched chicks (Gallus gallus). Anim Cogn 2016; 19:1007-17. [PMID: 27287627 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-016-1005-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2016] [Revised: 05/24/2016] [Accepted: 05/30/2016] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Evidence of learning and generalization of visual regularities in a newborn organism is provided in the present research. Domestic chicks have been trained to discriminate visual triplets of simultaneously presented shapes, implementing AAB versus ABA (Experiment 1), AAB versus ABB and AAB versus BAA (Experiment 2). Chicks distinguished pattern-following and pattern-violating novel test triplets in all comparisons, showing no preference for repetition-based patterns. The animals generalized to novel instances even when the patterns compared were not discriminable by the presence or absence of reduplicated elements or by symmetry (e.g., AAB vs. ABB). These findings represent the first evidence of learning and generalization of regularities at the onset of life in an animal model, revealing intriguing differences with respect to human newborns and infants. Extensive prior experience seems to be unnecessary to drive the process, suggesting that chicks are predisposed to detect patterns characterizing the visual world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Santolin
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy. .,Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500, Highland Avenue, Madison, WI, 53705, USA. .,Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy.
| | - Orsola Rosa-Salva
- CIMeC, Center for Mind-Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Lucia Regolin
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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