Temporal Order and Duration: Their Discrimination and Retention by Pigeons

Wasserman, Edward A.; DeLong, Robert E.; Larew, Mark B.

doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1984.tb23421.x

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…For instance, Wasserman, DeLong, and Larew (1984) studied duration and order discrimination in pigeons by using operant-conditioning paradigms. They found that, when making discriminations, pigeons rely on information obtained from the temporal order of stimuli.…”

Section: Duration Discrimination Without a Clockmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Neuropsychology of Attention

Cohen

1993

Critical Issues in Neuropsychology

210

118

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A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher.Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1993 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1993All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher An unfortunate case of "hemispatial" inattention. ("M Babinet prevenu par sa portiere de Ia visite de Ia comete." From Le Charivari, 1858, by Honore Daumier. Babcock Bequest; Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.) PrefaceAt the beginning of this project, I was struck by several paradoxes regarding the study of attentional phenomena within neuropsychology. On one hand, the concept of attention has been central to the historical development of psychology. Attention was considered a fundamental and inescapable aspect of human experience by Wilhelm Wundt, William James, and the other founders of modern psychology. On the other hand, for much of the 20th century, psychologists tried desperately to avoid acknowledging the need for an attentional construct. Because attention has an intangible quality and cannot be specified as a unitary process, many behavioral scientists considered the construct of attention theoretically incoherent. Some of their concerns regarding the nature of attentional phenomena were clearly justified. It is also apparent, however, that explanations of behavior and cognition that fail to account for attentional phenomena cannot fully capture human experience.Recently, there has been a shift in zeitgeist, and attention has received more favorable treatment within the cognitive neurosciences. Humans cannot handle an infinite amount of simultaneous information. Therefore, cognitive processes must exist that direct our focus to information that is important, and that permit the selection of stimuli and responses from the large universe of alternatives. Regardless of whether one advocates the existence of a discrete attentional process, it is necessary to account for the occurrence of those phenomena that we normally label as aspects of attention. Consideration of the mechanisms underlying the selection of information and the control of stimulus and response processes is critical if we hope to understand human cognitive experience.The necessity of studying the mechanisms underlying attentional phenomena is particularly evident within neuropsychology. Patients with brain disorders frequently do not perform at optimal levels, even when task variables are held constant. They may fail to detect an object in the environment, even though it can be demonstrated that they have adequate perceptual capability. Reference to performance deficits stemming from attentional dysfunction is common in cl...

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Section: Duration Discrimination Without a Clockmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Neuropsychology of Attention

Cohen

1993

Critical Issues in Neuropsychology

210

118

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“…However, with the symbolic matching-tosample procedure, it has also been possible to show that temporal aspects of a stimulus can be remembered. Thus, pigeons given Konorski's (1959) method remembered different durations of a red sample stimulus and reported that memory during test stimuli of differing line orientations (Wasserman, DeLong, & Larew, 1984). They remembered not only two very different stimulus durations (2 s and 16s), but also a whole range of more or less different durations (1,2,3,4,5,6,7, and 8 s), and sample-test durations as long as 16 s.…”

Section: Basic Methods and Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative cognition: Beginning the second century of the study of animal intelligence.

Wasserman

1993

Psychological Bulletin

130

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Comparative psychology has undergone many changes since its inception in Victorian England some 100 years ago. Gone are the amusing anecdotes of pet owners and amateur naturalists, replaced by the detailed observations of behavioral scientists made under carefully controlled conditions. Yet, many of the persistent problems in the comparative analysis of intelligence remain: Are the cognitive processes of animals like those of humans? Can researchers construct a phytogeny of intelligence? What is cognition without language? This article briefly reviews the history of the study of comparative cognition. It then discusses 2 of the most active and important areas of empirical inquiry-memory and conceptualization-to acquaint readers with contemporary research in the field. Given increased contact with the related areas of cognitive science, behavioral neuroscience, and behavioral ecology, comparative cognition should continue in its 2nd century to make significant contributions to the overall understanding of the principles of behavior. How familiar a scene it is. A learned and eloquent scientist gazes upward toward the distant heavens, sighs wistfully, and plaintively asks "Is there life beyond earth? Is that life intelli-gent? If so, can we communicate with it?" What a noble quest: to search out alien life and to interact with it. A quest not only noble but also generously funded by governmental agencies. Radio telescopes, orbiting satellites, and both staffed and unstaffed cosmic expeditions have been and will be constructed and undertaken to find extraterrestrial life-at great public expense and with much media fanfare. I wish not to demean these important efforts but rather to suggest that an equally challenging and probably more fruitful search for alien intelligence can take place-right here on earth. Thousands of species of animals inhabit this planet, many of them exhibiting notable craft, flexibility, and ingenuity in adapting to the numerous challenges of survival. The careful and scientific study of our planetmates may shed considerable light on the nature of intelligence, on the character of cognition without language, and on the very possibility of communication with extraterrestrial life-if it is ever found. Perhaps most important, comparing the intelligence of many species of animals may help us know better what it means to be human. Although the study of animal intelligence has been an ongoing concern of scientists for some 100 years-Romanes's (1883/ 1977) classic book, Animal Intelligence, was published in 1883-most people know very little about it. The present popularity of many nature programs on television plus the great publicity that several research projects on animal behavior have recently received suggest that now might be an opportune time to out

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“…It is possible that recent interest in the issue of animals' perception of time (e.g., Gibbon & Allan, 1984) stems from these analytical shortcomings of reinforcement schedules. In any case, it is clear that a critical test of animals' temporal discriminative capabilities requires a procedure in which responses are controlled by a temporal event after it has elapsed (Wasserman, DeLong, & Larew, 1984). A delayed discrimination procedure is ideally suited to this purpose.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In any case, it is clear that a critical test of animals' temporal discriminative capabilities requires a procedure in which responses are controlled by a temporal event after it has elapsed (Wasserman, DeLong, & Larew, 1984). A delayed discrimination procedure is ideally suited to this purpose.…”

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Delayed Temporal Discrimination in Pigeons: A Comparison of Two Procedures

Chatlosh

Wasserman

1987

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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A within-subjects comparison was made of pigeons' performance on two temporal discrimination procedures that were signaled by differently colored keylight samples. During stimulus trials, a peck on the key displaying a slanted line was reinforced following short keylight samples, and a peck on the key displaying a horizontal line was reinforced following long keylight samples, regardless of the location of the stimuli on those two choice keys. During position trials, a peck on the left key was reinforced following short keylight samples and a peck on the right key was reinforced following long keylight samples, regardless of which line stimulus appeared on the correct key. Thus, on stimulus trials, the correct choice key could not be discriminated prior to the presentation of the test stimuli, whereas on position trials, the correct choice key could be discriminated during the presentation of the sample stimulus. During Phase 1, with a 0-s delay between sample and choice stimuli, discrimination learning was faster on position trials than on stimulus trials for all 4 birds. During Phase 2, 0-, 0.5-, and 1.0-s delays produced differential loss of stimulus control under the two tasks for 2 birds. Response patterns during the delay intervals provided some evidence for differential mediation of the two delayed discriminations. These between-task differences suggest that the same processes may not mediate performance in each.

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Temporal Order and Duration: Their Discrimination and Retention by Pigeons

Cited by 15 publications

References 15 publications

The Neuropsychology of Attention

The Neuropsychology of Attention

Comparative cognition: Beginning the second century of the study of animal intelligence.

Delayed Temporal Discrimination in Pigeons: A Comparison of Two Procedures

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