The focus of the experiments of this proposal are the processes by which pigeons learn matching to sample (MTS) and the conditions that lead to different ways that pigeons learn MTS. A newly developed technique will be used to measure if-then rule learning in the MTS task. Another newly developed technique will be used to measure relational-concept learning during acquisition of the MTS task. Tests are proposed to manipulate and confirm the presence of configural learning when evidence indicates that the whole MTS display is learned as a configural pattern. Other evidence suggests that in certain conditions the MTS task may be learned by combinations of these different types of learning. Enhancing and inhibitory interactions between these different learning processes in MTS will be studied. Configural learning will be made more difficult by increasing the number of displays to be learned and by making the display less likely to be configured as a unitary pattern by the pigeons. These manipulations of configural learning. Other manipulations will test the durability of relational-concept learning and explore the type of learning that replaces it. This research will extend our knowledge of how tasks are learned, problems solved, and conditions that lead to either higher-order concept learning or stimulus-specific learning.
| Elmore, L Caitlin; Magnotti, John F; Katz, Jeffrey S et al. (2012) Change detection by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and pigeons (Columba livia). J Comp Psychol 126:203-12 |
| Wright, Anthony A (2010) Functional relationships for determining similarities and differences in comparative cognition. Behav Processes 85:246-51 |
| Katz, Jeffrey S; Sturz, Bradley R; Wright, Anthony A (2010) Domain is a moving target for relational learning. Behav Processes 83:172-5 |
| Katz, Jeffrey S; Sturz, Bradley R; Wright, Anthony A (2010) Testing the translational-symmetry hypothesis of abstract-concept learning in pigeons. Learn Behav 38:35-41 |
| Schmidtke, Kelly A; Katz, Jeffrey S; Wright, Anthony A (2010) Differential outcomes facilitate same/different concept learning. Anim Cogn 13:583-9 |
| Katz, Jeffrey S; Cook, Robert G; Magnotti, John F (2010) Toward a framework for the evaluation of feature binding in pigeons. Behav Processes 85:215-25 |
| Elmore, L Caitlin; Wright, Anthony A; Rivera, Jacquelyne J et al. (2009) Individual differences: either relational learning or item-specific learning in a same/different task. Learn Behav 37:204-13 |
| Nakamura, Tamo; Wright, Anthony A; Katz, Jeffrey S et al. (2009) Abstract-concept learning carryover effects from the initial training set in pigeons (Columba livia). J Comp Psychol 123:79-89 |
| Katz, Jeffrey S; Bodily, Kent D; Wright, Anthony A (2008) Learning strategies in matching to sample: if-then and configural learning by pigeons. Behav Processes 77:223-30 |
| Bodily, Kent D; Katz, Jeffrey S; Wright, Anthony A (2008) Matching-to-sample abstract-concept learning by pigeons. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process 34:178-84 |
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