SOME DATA ON MATCHING BEHAVIOR IN THE PIGEON¹

Abstract

In matching behavior, the subject is first presented with a standard stimulus, and then required to select the corresponding stimulus from a set (usually two) of comparison stimuli. There has been increasing contemporary interest in this situation (Blough, 1957(Blough, , 1959Ferster, 1960), perhaps because it shares a number of common dimensions with several other important research areas. If the number of standard stimuli is made large, the matching procedure relates closely to the "learning set" problems of Harlow (1959). If time intervals are introduced between the presentation of the standard and comparison stimuli, contact is made with studies of delayed responding. If, after a specified history, the subject is required to match "novel" stimuli, the procedure is relevant to investigations of generalization and concept formation. Finally, if the set of comparison stimuli is suitably chosen, psychophysical functions are generated.Preliminary data are reported here on a procedure which can be easily adapted to the study of all of these problems. METHOD Subjects and AppartusThe subjects were three White Carneaux barren hens. Throughout the experiment, the birds were maintained at 80% of their free-feeding weights. Grit and water were continuously available in the home cages. Maple peas were given in the home cages when feeding outside the experimental situation was required. The reinforcement grain mixture consisted of 50% Kaffir, 40% vetch, and 10% hempseed. Both the living quarters and the experimental room were air-conditioned.Experimental sessions were scheduled daily for each bird, except on those occasions when the animals' body weights differed from the 80% free-feeding value by more than 4 15 grams.The response chamber was in the form of an isoceles right triangle approximately 24 by 24 by 35 inches. The hypotenuse of the triangle was a plate-glass front which permitted observations of the Ss' behavior. The legs of the triangle were two solid walls, painted flat black. One was furnished with an access door; on the other were mounted the reinforcement magazine and three milk-plastic response keys, each I inch in diameter. The entire ceiling of the box was of translucent plastic, which diffused the light from three 25-watt bulbs. Behind each key was a light box with three 7.5-watt Christmas-tree bulbs.

Mechanisms of same-different abstract-concept learning by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

“…For example, early tests with pigeons uniformly failed to find MTS abstract-concept learning Cumming & Berryman, 1961;Cumming et al, 1965;D'Amato et al, 1985;Farthing & Opuda, 1974;Holmes, 1979). Indeed, these failures of MTS abstract-concept learning by pigeons provided a major stimulus for Premack's (1978) article.…”

The Role of Mediating Verbal Behavior in Selection-based Responding

“…Researchers studying nonhuman conditional discrimination performances also report that many trials are needed for acquisition. For example, Cumming and Berryman (1961) examined match-to-sample performance in pigeons, using only two choice stimuli. Acquisition at the 90% accuracy level occurred after a minimum of approximately 350 trials for each relation for one bird, and after a maximum of approximately 560 trials for each relation for two other birds.…”

A Review of Studies Examining the Nature of Selection-based and Topography-based Verbal Behavior

“…If one were to adopt the hypothesis that SB verbal behavior may be composed of TB components (Dugdale & Lowe, 1990;Lowenkron, 1991), one would expect to see the results described above. Given no verbal skills with which to use in learning SB relations, it would be necessary for a participant to learn a conditional discrimination to select correctly, which has been demonstrated in nonhuman research, but often takes a considerable amount of time (Cumming & Berryman, 1961;Shafer, 1993). An alternative to this is that a participant might learn a topographical response and then have it function as an aide in responding correctly in the SB condition.…”