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Author Sole, L.M.; Shettleworth, S.J.; Bennett, P.J. openurl 
  Title Uncertainty in pigeons Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Psychonomic bulletin & review Abbreviated Journal Psychon Bull Rev  
  Volume 10 Issue 3 Pages 738-745  
  Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal; Columbidae; *Decision Making; Reinforcement (Psychology); Reward; Transfer (Psychology); Visual Perception  
  Abstract Pigeons classified a display of illuminated pixels on a touchscreen as sparse or dense. Correct responses were reinforced with six food pellets; incorrect responses were unreinforced. On some trials an uncertain response option was available. Pecking it was always reinforced with an intermediate number of pellets. Like monkeys and people in related experiments, the birds chose the uncertain response most often when the stimulus presented was difficult to classify correctly, but in other respects their behavior was not functionally similar to human behavior based on conscious uncertainty or to the behavior of monkeys in comparable experiments. Our data were well described by a signal detection model that assumed that the birds were maximizing perceived reward in a consistent way across all the experimental conditions.  
  Address University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 1069-9384 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:14620372 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 366  
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Author Biro, D.; Sumpter, D.J.T.; Meade, J.; Guilford, T. url  doi
openurl 
  Title From Compromise to Leadership in Pigeon Homing Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Current Biology Abbreviated Journal Curr Biol  
  Volume 16 Issue 21 Pages 2123-2128  
  Keywords Animal Migration; Animals; Columbidae/*physiology; Decision Making; *Flight, Animal; *Homing Behavior; Models, Biological; Orientation; *Social Behavior; *Social Dominance  
  Abstract Summary A central problem faced by animals traveling in groups is how navigational decisions by group members are integrated, especially when members cannot assess which individuals are best informed or have conflicting information or interests , , , and . Pigeons are now known to recapitulate faithfully their individually distinct habitual routes home , and , and this provides a novel paradigm for investigating collective decisions during flight under varying levels of interindividual conflict. Using high-precision GPS tracking of pairs of pigeons, we found that if conflict between two birds' directional preferences was small, individuals averaged their routes, whereas if conflict rose over a critical threshold, either the pair split or one of the birds became the leader. Modeling such paired decision-making showed that both outcomes--compromise and leadership--could emerge from the same set of simple behavioral rules. Pairs also navigated more efficiently than did the individuals of which they were composed, even though leadership was not necessarily assumed by the more efficient bird. In the context of mass migration of birds and other animals, our results imply that simple self-organizing rules can produce behaviors that improve accuracy in decision-making and thus benefit individuals traveling in groups , and .  
  Address Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom. daro.biro@zoo.ox.ac.uk  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language Englisch Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 0960-9822 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17084696 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2026  
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Author Clement, T.S.; Zentall, T.R. openurl 
  Title Development of a single-code/default coding strategy in pigeons Type Journal Article
  Year 2000 Publication Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS Abbreviated Journal Psychol Sci  
  Volume 11 Issue 3 Pages 261-264  
  Keywords Animals; Attention; Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; Female; Male; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; *Problem Solving; Retention (Psychology)  
  Abstract We tested the hypothesis that pigeons could use a cognitively efficient coding strategy by training them on a conditional discrimination (delayed symbolic matching) in which one alternative was correct following the presentation of one sample (one-to-one), whereas the other alternative was correct following the presentation of any one of four other samples (many-to-one). When retention intervals of different durations were inserted between the offset of the sample and the onset of the choice stimuli, divergent retention functions were found. With increasing retention interval, matching accuracy on trials involving any of the many-to-one samples was increasingly better than matching accuracy on trials involving the one-to-one sample. Furthermore, following this test, pigeons treated a novel sample as if it had been one of the many-to-one samples. The data suggest that rather than learning each of the five sample-comparison associations independently, the pigeons developed a cognitively efficient single-code/default coding strategy.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 0956-7976 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:11273414 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 246  
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Author Klein, E.D.; Zentall, T.R. doi  openurl
  Title Imitation and affordance learning by pigeons (Columba livia) Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol  
  Volume 117 Issue 4 Pages 414-419  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Columbidae; Cues; *Imitative Behavior; *Learning; Odors; Sound  
  Abstract The bidirectional control procedure was used to determine whether pigeons (Columba livia) would imitate a demonstrator that pushed a sliding screen for food. One group of observers saw a trained demonstrator push a sliding screen door with its beak (imitation group), whereas 2 other groups watched the screen move independently (possibly learning how the environment works) with a conspecific either present (affordance learning with social facilitation) or absent (affordance learning alone). A 4th group could not see the screen being pushed (sound and odor control). Imitation was evidenced by the finding that pigeons that saw a demonstrator push the screen made a higher proportion of matching screen pushes than observers in 2 appropriate control conditions. Further, observers that watched a screen move without a demonstrator present made a significantly higher proportion of matching screen pushes than would be expected by chance. Thus, these pigeons were capable of affordance learning.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-004, USA  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 0735-7036 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:14717643 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 234  
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Author Dorrance, B.R.; Zentall, T.R. openurl 
  Title Imitation of conditional discriminations in pigeons (Columba livia) Type Journal Article
  Year 2002 Publication Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol  
  Volume 116 Issue 3 Pages 277-285  
  Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Columbidae; Conditioning (Psychology)/*physiology; Discrimination Learning/*physiology; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; *Imitative Behavior; Light; Reinforcement (Psychology)  
  Abstract In the present experiments, the 2-action method was used to determine whether pigeons could learn to imitate a conditional discrimination. Demonstrator pigeons (Columba livia) stepped on a treadle in the presence of 1 light and pecked at the treadle in the presence of another light. Demonstration did not seem to affect acquisition of the conditional discrimination (Experiment 1) but did facilitate its reversal of the conditional discrimination (Experiments 2 and 3). The results suggest that pigeons are not only able to learn a specific behavior by observing another pigeon, but they can also learn under which circumstances to perform that behavior. The results have implications for proposed mechanisms of imitation in animals.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois 61201, USA. psdorrance@augustana.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 0735-7036 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:12234078 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 240  
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Author Sutton, J.E.; Shettleworth, S.J. doi  openurl
  Title Internal sense of direction and landmark use in pigeons (Columba livia) Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol  
  Volume 119 Issue 3 Pages 273-284  
  Keywords Animals; *Columbidae; Conflict (Psychology); *Cues; Discrimination Learning; Homing Behavior; *Intuition; *Orientation; *Space Perception; Transfer (Psychology); *Visual Perception  
  Abstract The relative importance of an internal sense of direction based on inertial cues and landmark piloting for small-scale navigation by White King pigeons (Columba livia) was investigated in an arena search task. Two groups of pigeons differed in whether they had access to visual cues outside the arena. In Experiment 1, pigeons were given experience with 2 different entrances and all pigeons transferred accurate searching to novel entrances. Explicit disorientation before entering did not affect accuracy. In Experiments 2-4, landmarks and inertial cues were put in conflict or tested 1 at a time. Pigeons tended to follow the landmarks in a conflict situation but could use an internal sense of direction to search when landmarks were unavailable.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, ON, Canada. jsutton7@uwo.ca  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 0735-7036 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16131256 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 360  
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Author Zentall, T.R. doi  openurl
  Title Mental time travel in animals: a challenging question Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Behavioural processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 72 Issue 2 Pages 173-183  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Columbidae; Concept Formation; Conditioning, Operant; *Imagination; *Memory; Mental Recall; Planning Techniques; Rats; *Time Perception; Transfer (Psychology)  
  Abstract Humans have the ability to mentally recreate past events (using episodic memory) and imagine future events (by planning). The best evidence for such mental time travel is personal and thus subjective. For this reason, it is particularly difficult to study such behavior in animals. There is some indirect evidence, however, that animals have both episodic memory and the ability to plan for the future. When unexpectedly asked to do so, animals can report about their recent past experiences (episodic memory) and they also appear to be able to use the anticipation of a future event as the basis for a present action (planning). Thus, the ability to imagine past and future events may not be uniquely human.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. zentall@uky.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16466863 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 218  
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Author Zentall, T.R. doi  openurl
  Title Timing, memory for intervals, and memory for untimed stimuli: the role of instructional ambiguity Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Behavioural processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 70 Issue 3 Pages 209-222  
  Keywords Animals; *Attention; Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; *Memory, Short-Term; Practice (Psychology); Reinforcement Schedule; *Retention (Psychology); *Time Perception  
  Abstract Theories of animal timing have had to account for findings that the memory for the duration of a timed interval appears to be dramatically shorted within a short time of its termination. This finding has led to the subjective shortening hypothesis and it has been proposed to account for the poor memory that animals appear to have for the initial portion of a timed interval when a gap is inserted in the to-be-timed signal. It has also been proposed to account for the poor memory for a relatively long interval that has been discriminated from a shorter interval. I suggest here a simpler account in which ambiguity between the gap or retention interval and the intertrial interval results in resetting the clock, rather than forgetting the interval. The ambiguity hypothesis, together with a signal salience mechanism that determines how quickly the clock is reset at the start of the intertrial interval can account for the results of the reported timing experiments that have used the peak procedure. Furthermore, instructional ambiguity rather than memory loss may account for the results of many animal memory experiments that do not involve memory for time.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, 202B Kastle Hall, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. zentall@uky.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
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  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16095851 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 222  
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Author Friedrich, A.M.; Zentall, T.R. doi  openurl
  Title Pigeons shift their preference toward locations of food that take more effort to obtain Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Behavioural processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 67 Issue 3 Pages 405-415  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; *Choice Behavior; Columbidae; *Exertion; *Feeding Behavior; Reward  
  Abstract Although animals typically prefer to exert less effort rather than more effort to obtain food, the present research shows that requiring greater effort to obtain food at a particular location appears to increase the value of that location. In Experiment 1, pigeons' initial preference for one feeder was significantly reduced by requiring 1 peck to obtain food from that feeder and requiring 30 pecks to obtain food from the other feeder. In Experiment 2, a similar decrease in preference was not found when pigeons received reinforcement from both feeders independently of the amount of effort required. These results are consistent with the within-trial contrast effect proposed by in which the relative hedonic value of a reward depends on the state of the animal immediately prior to the reward. The greater the improvement from that prior state the greater the value of the reinforcer.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15518990 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 227  
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Author Friedrich, A.M.; Clement, T.S.; Zentall, T.R. doi  openurl
  Title Functional equivalence in pigeons involving a four-member class Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Behavioural processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 67 Issue 3 Pages 395-403  
  Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; *Behavior, Animal; *Cognition; Columbidae; *Concept Formation  
  Abstract Research suggests that animals are capable of forming functional equivalence relations or stimulus classes of the kind usually demonstrated by humans (e.g., the class defined by an object and the word for that object). In pigeons, such functional equivalences are typically established using many-to-one matching-to-sample in which two samples are associated with one comparison stimulus and two different samples are associated with the other. Evidence for the establishment of functional equivalences between samples associated with the same comparison comes from transfer tests. In Experiment 1, we found that pigeons can form a single class consisting of four members (many-to-one matching) when the alternative class has only one member (one-to-one matching). In Experiment 2, we ruled out the possibility that the pigeons acquired the hybrid one-to-one/many-to-one task by developing a single-code/default coding strategy as earlier research suggested that it might. Thus, pigeons can develop a functional class consisting of as many as four members, with the alternative class consisting of a single member.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN (down) 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15518989 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 228  
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