Pigeons’ memory for sequences of light flashes: Reliance on temporal properties and evidence for delay interval/gap confusion

Santi, Angelo; Lellwitz, Jennifer; Gagne, Stephen

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2006.01.006

Cited by 11 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The first experiment replicated Santi et al's (2006) finding of a choose-few effect at extended dark delays, but no biased forgetting at extended illuminated delays. The second experiment examined memory for light flash sequences with samples that controlled for the gap between flashes so that the only reliable cue for responding to comparisons was the number of flashes or the number of gaps.…”

supporting

confidence: 64%

“…In Experiment 3 of Santi et al (2006), pigeons received baseline training with a constant 1-sec dark delay interval in order to prevent the pigeons from responding following this delay interval as if it was the short dark gap between light flashes on the many-sample trials. Pigeons trained with an illuminated ITI were not able to perform accurately with a constant 1-sec dark delay.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, these samples are referred to as "gap duration varying samples" in Table 2, because the gap duration differed by at least 1,333 msec between the few samples and the many samples. Santi et al (2006) found that when the delay interval was dark, the retention functions for these samples exhibited a choose-many bias at the 1-sec delay and a choose-few bias at the 4-and 8-sec delays. These effects were observed regardless of whether the pigeons had been trained with a dark ITI (Group Dark) or an illuminated ITI (Group Light).…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

“…These additional cues include the number of gaps, the sum of the flash durations, the gap between the flashes, and the sum of the gap durations. Santi, Lellwitz, and Gagne (2006) recently examined memory for number of feeder light flashes using a procedure that controlled for the sum of the flash durations in addition to the duration of individual flashes and the total duration of a sequence. The two sets of sample sequences used by Santi et al (2006) are shown in the top half of Table 2, where they are identified as gap duration varying (GDV) samples.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Santi, Lellwitz, and Gagne (2006) recently examined memory for number of feeder light flashes using a procedure that controlled for the sum of the flash durations in addition to the duration of individual flashes and the total duration of a sequence. The two sets of sample sequences used by Santi et al (2006) are shown in the top half of Table 2, where they are identified as gap duration varying (GDV) samples. For both sets, two flashes in 4 sec (2f/4) represented the few sample and four flashes in 4 sec (4f/4) represented the many sample.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pigeons’ memory for sequences of light flashes when gap duration is an unreliable discriminative cue

Keough

Santi

Rooyen

2007

Learning & Behavior

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In studies of memory for event duration, pigeons are trained using a delayed symbolic matching-to-sample (DSMTS) procedure to discriminate the duration of a sample stimulus (e.g., 2 vs. 8 sec of houselight illumination). A peck to one comparison stimulus (e.g., red) is reinforced if the sample duration is short, and a peck to the other comparison stimulus (e.g., green) is reinforced if the sample duration is long. Working memory is tested by inserting a delay interval between the end of sample presentation and the onset of comparison stimuli. As demonstrated initially by Spetch and Wilkie (1983), the retention function for the long sample duration drops below chance, whereas the retention function for the short sample duration remains well above chance over delays of 10 and 20 sec. Spetch and Wilkie referred to this result as the choose-short effect, because pigeons show a bias to peck the comparison stimulus associated with the short sample as the delay interval is extended beyond baseline training. This result has been reported in a large number of studies (Fetterman, 1995;Gaitan & Wixted, 2000;Grant, 1993Grant, , 2006Grant & Kelly, 1996Grant & Spetch, 1991, 1993Grant, Spetch, & Kelly, 1997;Kelly & Spetch, 2000;Kraemer, Mazmanian, & Roberts, 1985;Santi, Bridson, & Ducharme, 1993;Santi, Ducharme, & Bridson, 1992;Sherburne, Zentall, & Kaiser, 1998;Spetch, 1987;Spetch & Rusak, 1989.Memory for number of events has also been studied by training pigeons in a DSMTS procedure (Fetterman, 2000;Fetterman & MacEwen, 1989;Hope & Santi, 2004;Roberts, Macuda, & Brodbeck, 1995;Santi & Hope, 2001). In the studies by Roberts et al. and Santi and Hope, pigeons were presented with sample stimuli consisting of two flashes of light in 4 sec (2f/4) or eight flashes of light in 4 sec (8f/4). These sample sequences will be referred to as few and many in the present paper. A peck to one comparison stimulus (e.g., red) was reinforced if the sample number was few, and a peck to the other comparison stimulus (e.g., green) was reinforced if the sample number was many. Pigeons' memory for number was assessed by inserting delay intervals of varying length between termination of the sample sequence and the onset of the comparison stimuli. At delays greater than the baseline training delay, pigeons responded with higher accuracy following the few sample, whereas response accuracy following the many sample dropped well below chance (Roberts et al., 1995;Santi & Hope, 2001). This result is referred to as the choose-few effect because pigeons are biased to respond to the comparison stimulus that was correct for the smaller number sample as the delay interval is extended beyond baseline training.The choose-few effect for number and the choose-short effect for time have been viewed as support for the hypothesis that there is a common mechanism for the processing of temporal and numerical information in pigeons (Roberts & Mitchell, 1994). The common mechanism is the accumulation of pulses generated by an internal clock as outlined in the mode-contr...

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supporting

confidence: 64%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 93%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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