A comparative analysis of the categorization of multidimensional stimuli: I. Unidimensional classification does not necessarily imply analytic processing; evidence from pigeons (Columba livia), squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), and humans (Homo sapiens).

Wills, Andy J.; Lea, Stephen E. G.; Leaver, Lisa A.; Osthaus, Britta; Ryan, Catriona M. E.; Suret, Mark; Bryant, Catherine M. L.; Chapman, S; Millar, Louise

doi:10.1037/a0016216

Cited by 44 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(81 reference statements)

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“…Our results do not support Smith et al’s (2012) analysis of pigeons’ cognitive capacities (see also Lea & Wills, 2008, Lea et al, 2009, and Wills et al, 2009, for further results and discussion). The mere fact that pigeons learned rule-based and information-integration tasks at similar rates does not prove that pigeons are incapable of selective attention.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 90%

Feature predictiveness and selective attention in pigeons’ categorization learning.

Castro

Wasserman

2017

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cogniti

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Prior categorization studies have shown that pigeons reliably track features that are perfect predictors of category membership (Castro & Wasserman, 2014; 2016a). One might further ask whether pigeons would also track features that are relevant, but imperfect predictors of category membership. In our present project, pigeons had to categorize multiple exemplars from two different artificial categories, in which the exemplars were composed of four different features, that were associated with one of two different report responses. Each exemplar contained one feature that perfectly predicted category membership; one feature that imperfectly predicted category membership; and, two irrelevant features that did not predict category membership. We monitored pigeons’ choice accuracy as well as the location of their pecks to each of the four exemplar features to determine to which attributes the birds attended. As categorization accuracy rose, pecks to the perfect predictor of each category rose as well. Pigeons also showed evidence of attending more to the imperfect predictor than to the irrelevant features, but to a lesser degree. Overall, our results provide evidence of selective attention in pigeons’ categorization behavior.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 90%

Feature predictiveness and selective attention in pigeons’ categorization learning.

Castro

Wasserman

2017

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cogniti

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“…In just the same way, humans can learn to respond to either axis of variation in stimulus spaces involving dimensions that are clearly integral for them. Even nonanalytic systems can learn, gradually and associatively, to orient or reorient the decision boundary within a perceptual space, and thus they can sometimes respond undimensionally though implicitly (Wills et al, 2009). Though evidence consistent with attentional learning to dimensions by pigeons has been found (e.g., Mackintosh & Little, 1969), these results may sometimes be explained by invoking simpler and nonanalytic perceptual or associative processes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pigeons’ categorization may be exclusively nonanalytic

et al. 2011

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Recent theoretical and empirical developments in human category learning have differentiated an analytic, rule-based system of category learning from a nonanalytic system that integrates information across stimulus dimensions. The researchers applied this theoretical distinction to pigeons’ category learning. Pigeons learned to categorize stimuli varying in the tilt and width of their internal striping. The matched category problems had either a unidimensional (rule-based) or multidimensional (information-integration) solution. Whereas humans and nonhuman primates strongly dimensionalize these stimuli and learn rule-based tasks far more quickly than information-integration tasks, pigeons learned the two tasks equally quickly to the same accuracy level. Pigeons may represent a cognitive system in which the commitment to dimensional analysis and category rules was not strongly made. Their performance could suggest the character of the ancestral vertebrate categorization system from which that of primates emerged.

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“…Given that squirrels excel in object manipulation, it would not be surprising if squirrels perform better in a solid object colour discrimination–reversal learning task. Indeed, Wills et al (2009) examined three-dimensional colour and shape discrimination using solid objects and showed that squirrels could learn the task within 2 trials. A further possibility would be due to age: some studies have found that older individuals showed poorer performance in the reversal phase than younger individuals, to name a few, among rats (Brushfield et al 2008), beagle dogs (Tapp et al 2003) and rhesus monkeys (Bartus et al 1979; Rapp 1990).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All five squirrels went through pre-training that was similar to that used by Wills et al (2009) with pigeons; the pre-training was divided into four key stages, habituation, left or right side stimulus training, central stimulus training and hexagon training. In the habituation stage, intermittent food was delivered from both feeders unconditionally, allowing the squirrels to become habituated to obtaining food from them.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Touch screen assays of behavioural flexibility and error characteristics in Eastern grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis)

et al. 2017

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Behavioural flexibility allows animals to adjust their behaviours according to changing environmental demands. Such flexibility is frequently assessed by the discrimination–reversal learning task. We examined grey squirrels’ behavioural flexibility, using a simultaneous colour discrimination–reversal learning task on a touch screen. Squirrels were trained to select their non-preferred colour in the discrimination phase, and their preferred colour was rewarded in a subsequent reversal phase. We used error rates to divide learning in each phase into three stages (perseveration, chance level and ‘learned’) and examined response inhibition and head-switching during each stage. We found consistent behavioural patterns were associated with each learning stage: in the perseveration stage, at the beginning of each training phase, squirrels showed comparable response latencies to correct and incorrect stimuli, along with a low level of head-switching. They quickly overcame perseveration, typically in one to three training blocks. In the chance-level stage, response latencies to both stimuli were low, but during initial discrimination squirrels showed more head-switches than in the previous stage. This suggests that squirrels were learning the current reward contingency by responding rapidly to a stimulus, but with increased attention to both stimuli. In the learned stage, response latencies to the correct stimulus and the number of head-switches were at their highest, whereas incorrect response latencies were at their lowest, and differed significantly from correct response latencies. These results suggest increased response inhibition and attention allowed the squirrels to minimise errors. They also suggest that errors in the ‘learned’ stage were related to impulsive emission of the pre-potent or previously learned responses.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10071-017-1072-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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A comparative analysis of the categorization of multidimensional stimuli: I. Unidimensional classification does not necessarily imply analytic processing; evidence from pigeons (Columba livia), squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), and humans (Homo sapiens).

Cited by 44 publications

References 39 publications

Feature predictiveness and selective attention in pigeons’ categorization learning.

Feature predictiveness and selective attention in pigeons’ categorization learning.

Pigeons’ categorization may be exclusively nonanalytic

Touch screen assays of behavioural flexibility and error characteristics in Eastern grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis)

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