Goal recognition and hippocampal formation in the homing pigeon (Columba livia).

Strasser, Rosemary; Bingman, Verner P.

doi:10.1037/0735-7044.111.6.1245

Cited by 42 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…If true, then neurons of this type could be described as 'context setting' cells. Consistent with the possible existence of context-setting neurons is the finding that, under some experimental conditions, HF lesions in homing pigeons can result in behavior suggestive of a loss of sensitivity to contextual stimuli [Strasser and Bingman, 1997].…”

Section: Spatial Response Properties Of Hf Neurons: a Preliminary Surveysupporting

confidence: 50%

The Homing Pigeon Hippocampus and Space: In Search of Adaptive Specialization

Bingman

Hough²,

Kahn³

et al. 2003

Brain Behav Evol

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The hippocampus (HF) of birds and mammals is essential for the map-like representation of environmental landmarks used for navigation. However, species with contrasting spatial behaviors and evolutionary histories are likely to display differences, or ‘adaptive specializations’, in HF organization reflective of those contrasts. In the search for HF specialization in homing pigeons, we are investigating the spatial response properties of isolated HF neurons and possible right-left HF differences in the representation of space. The most notable result from the recording work is that we have yet to find neurons in the homing pigeon HF that display spatial response properties similar to HF ‘place cells’ of rats. Of interest is the suggestion of neurons that show higher levels of activity when pigeons are near goal locations and neurons that show higher levels of activity when pigeons are in a holding area prior to be being placed in an experimental environment. In contrast to the rat, the homing pigeon HF appears to be functionally lateralized. Results from a current lesion study demonstrate that only the left HF is sensitive to landmarks that are located within the boundaries of an experimental environment, whereas the right HF is indifferent to such landmarks but sensitive to global environmental features (e.g., geometry) of the experimental space. The preliminary electrophysiological and lateralization results offer interesting departure points for better understanding possible HF specialization in homing pigeons. However, the pigeon and rat HF reside in different forebrain environments characterized by a wulst and neocortex, respectively. Differences in the forebrain organization of pigeons and rats, and birds and mammals in general, must be considered in making sense of possible species differences in how HF participates in the representation of space.

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Section: Spatial Response Properties Of Hf Neurons: a Preliminary Surveysupporting

confidence: 50%

The Homing Pigeon Hippocampus and Space: In Search of Adaptive Specialization

Bingman

Hough²,

Kahn³

et al. 2003

Brain Behav Evol

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“…Strasser and Bingman [1996] have found that homing pigeons, despite having a larger hippocampus than other non-homing pigeon breeds [Rehkaemper et al, 1988;Sherry et al, 1992], are not predisposed to use distal spatial cues over a combination of local landmarks and feature cues for recognition of a food site in the lab [Strasser and Bingman, 1996]. This result occurs despite the fact that hippocampal damage results in deficits in homing behaviors [Bingman et al, 1990;Bingman, 1992] and in spatial relations tasks [Strasser and Bingman, 1997], but not in non-spatial paired associations [Bingman et al, 1998]. Other studies have identified avian species with relatively small hippocampi that retrieve stored food caches without difficulty [Balda et al, 1998], and species with relatively large hippocampi that do not cache food [Volman et al, 1997].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 56%

Relative Medial and Dorsal Cortex Volume in Relation to Foraging Ecology in Congeneric Lizards

Day¹,

Crews²,

Wilczynski³

1999

Brain Behav Evol

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The need to locate distributed resources such as mates, food, and nests is correlated with an enlarged hippocampus in many mammalian and avian species. This correlation is believed to be a consequence of selection for spatial ability. Little is known about how such ecological needs affect non-mammalian, non-avian species. In lizards, the putative hippocampal homologues are the dorsal cortex (DC) and medial cortex (MC). We examined the relationship between foraging ecology and the size of the DC and MC in congeneric male lizards. We predicted based on the mammalian and avian literature that Acanthodactylus boskianus, an active forager that captures clumped, immobile prey would have a larger MC and DC than A. scutellatus, a sit-and-wait predator, that captures mobile prey. Our previous behavioral studies showed that A. boskianus did not differ from A. scutellatus on a spatial task but that A. boskianus was significantly better at the reversal of a visual discrimination, another task that is hippocampally dependent in mammals. In the current study, we found that, relative to telencephalon volume, the MC and DC were larger in the active forager whereas a control region, the lateral, olfactory, cortex, was similar in size between species. The current anatomical results suggest that MC and DC size is related to active foraging in lizards and, along with our previous behavioral studies, show that it is possible for this relationship to occur in the absence of evidence for species differences in spatial memory.

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“…After ablation of the piriform cortex both the learning [9] and the operation [17] of the navigational map were disrupted. Lesions of the hippocampal formation have suggested that this region is involved in spatial learning based on visual landmarks [2,25]. Furthermore, specific aspects of spatial information processing were separated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of monocular viewing on orientation in an arena at the release site and homing performance in pigeons

Diekamp

Prior

Ioalè

et al. 2002

Behavioural Brain Research

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Orientation and homing performance of pigeons with the left or right eye occluded were assessed in an arena at the release site and during the subsequent homing flight. Three release sites near Pisa, Italy, were used. Compared to binocular controls, monocular birds showed a bias in orientation towards the side of the viewing eye. In the arena, this bias was considerable and the mean deviation corresponded to the angle of the optical axis, suggesting a systematic error in visual representation during directional orientation. During flight after leaving the arena the directional bias decreased and the homeward orientation increased. While there was a slight lateralization of overall homing performance in favour of the right eye, there was no lateralization in directional orientation in the arena or at vanishing. Our results show that navigational mechanisms in either brain hemisphere profit from information obtained before take off and while flying over the release site. The existence and degree of lateralization is discussed in comparison to other studies that investigated homing under monocular viewing conditions. #

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Goal recognition and hippocampal formation in the homing pigeon (Columba livia).

Cited by 42 publications

References 36 publications

The Homing Pigeon Hippocampus and Space: In Search of Adaptive Specialization

The Homing Pigeon Hippocampus and Space: In Search of Adaptive Specialization

Relative Medial and Dorsal Cortex Volume in Relation to Foraging Ecology in Congeneric Lizards

Effects of monocular viewing on orientation in an arena at the release site and homing performance in pigeons

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