Win-stay/lose-shift and win-shift/lose-stay learning by pigeons in the absence of overt response mediation

Randall, Christopher K.; Zentall, Thomas R.

doi:10.1016/s0376-6357(97)00048-x

Cited by 41 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Pigeons show evidence of a natural predisposition to exhibit stay behavior. This hypothesis has been supported by findings that pigeons tend to perseverate, especially following a reinforced response (Randall & Zentall, 1997;Zentall, Steirn, & Jackson-Smith, 1990). Similarly, pigs (Mendl, Laughin, & Hitchcock, 1997), cattle , and sheep and goats also appear to have a win-stay response bias.…”

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confidence: 78%

Simultaneous discrimination reversal learning in pigeons and humans: anticipatory and perseverative errors

Molet²,

2010

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Pigeons were trained on a two-choice simultaneous discrimination (red vs. green) that reversed midway through each session. After considerable training, they consistently made both anticipatory errors prior to the reversal and perseverative errors after the reversal, suggesting that time (or number of trials) into the session served as a cue for reversal. In Experiment 2, to discourage the use of time as a cue, we varied the location of the reversal point within the session such that it occurred semirandomly after Trial 10, 25, 40, 55, or 70. Pigeons still tended both to anticipate and to perseverate. In Experiment 3, we required 20 pecks to a stimulus on each trial to facilitate memory for the preceding response and sensitivity to local reinforcement contingencies, but the results were similar to those of Experiment 2. We then tested humans on a similar task with a constant (Experiment 4) or variable (Experiment 5) reversal location. When the reversal occurred consistently at the midpoint of the session, humans, like pigeons, showed a tendency to anticipate the reversal; however, they did not show perseverative errors. When the reversal location varied between sessions, unlike pigeons, humans adopted a win-stay/lose-shift strategy, making only a single error on the first trial of the reversal.

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confidence: 78%

Simultaneous discrimination reversal learning in pigeons and humans: anticipatory and perseverative errors

Molet²,

2010

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“…It has been postulated that stressed animals learn these negative associations faster than non-stressed animals (16). This could facilitate a win-stay/lose-shift or win-shift/lose-stay strategy in future ambiguous trials (51). Furthermore, longer latencies to approach ambiguous cues have been postulated to reflect a loss of ambiguity (14).…”

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confidence: 99%

Learning and Judgment Can Be Affected by Predisposed Fearfulness in Laying Hens

2017

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High fearfulness could disrupt learning and likely affects judgment in animals, especially when it is part of an animals' personality, i.e., trait anxiety. Here, we tested whether high fearfulness affects discrimination learning and judgment bias (JB) in laying hens. Based on the response to an open field at 5 weeks of age, birds were categorized as fearful (FC) by showing no walking or vocalizing or non-fearful (NFC) by showing walking and vocalizing. At adult age, birds (n = 24) were trained in a go-go task to discriminate two cues (white or black) with a small or large reward. Birds that reached training criteria were exposed to three unrewarded ambiguous cues (25, 50, and 75% black) to assess JB. Task acquisition took longer for FC birds than for NFC birds, due to a left side bias, and more sessions were needed to unlearn this side bias. Changes in trial setup increased response latencies for FC birds but not for NFC birds. A larger number of FC birds than NFC birds chose optimistically in the last ambiguous trial (25% black). FC birds had a longer latency to choose in the ambiguous trial (75% black) compared to NFC birds. Prior choice in ambiguous trials and a preceding large or small trial affected latencies and choices for both types of birds. Our study showed that fearfulness was associated with differences in discrimination learning ability and JB. It appeared that FC birds used a rigid response strategy during early learning phases by choosing a specific side repeatedly irrespective of success. FC birds were more affected by changes in the setup of the trials in comparison to NFC birds. We speculate that FC birds are more sensitive to changes in environmental cues and reward expectancy. These factors could explain how high fearfulness affects learning.

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“…For example, Randall and Zentall (1997) found that pigeons readily learned a win-stay response but struggled with a win-shift response. Furthermore, when rats were trained in a T-maze to win-stay (i.e., to return to the same arm) versus win-shift, they initially showed a bias to shift, visiting the previously unvisited arm early in training and showing reduced accuracy (Haig, Rawlins, Olton, Mead, & Taylor, 1983); this pattern of results has been found in adult rats in a T-maze (Haig et al, 1983), as well as in young rats in a Y-maze (Gittis et al, 1988).…”

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confidence: 99%

Rats’ midsession reversal performance: the nature of the response

2015

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The midsession reversal task involves a simple simultaneous discrimination that predictably reverses midway through a session. Under various conditions, pigeons generally both anticipate the reversal and perseverate once it has occurred, whereas rats tend to make very few of either kind of error. In the present research, we investigated the hypothesis that the difference in performance between rats and pigeons is related to the nature of the responses made. We hypothesized that rats could have been better at bridging the intertrial interval by keeping the relevant paw close to the lever while eating, whereas the pigeons had to remove their beak from the response key and insert it into the feeder, thus making it difficult to mediate the response last made. In the present experiment, in successive phases, rats were trained to leverpress or nose-poke on a 40-trial midsession reversal, an 80-trial midsession reversal, and a variable-location reversal. The results showed that the leverpress group acquired the task faster than the nose-poke group, but that both groups reached comparable levels of performance. Thus, the difference in the natures of the responses cannot fully account for the differences in accuracy between rats and pigeons. Additionally, differences in the types of errors made by the two groups suggest that the nature of the response plays different roles in the performance of this task.

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Win-stay/lose-shift and win-shift/lose-stay learning by pigeons in the absence of overt response mediation

Cited by 41 publications

References 26 publications

Simultaneous discrimination reversal learning in pigeons and humans: anticipatory and perseverative errors

Simultaneous discrimination reversal learning in pigeons and humans: anticipatory and perseverative errors

Learning and Judgment Can Be Affected by Predisposed Fearfulness in Laying Hens

Rats’ midsession reversal performance: the nature of the response

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