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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 (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1069-9384 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:14620372 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 366  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Sekuler, A.B.; Lee, J.A.; Shettleworth, S.J. openurl 
  Title Pigeons do not complete partly occluded figures Type Journal Article
  Year 1996 Publication Perception Abbreviated Journal Perception  
  Volume 25 Issue 9 Pages 1109-1120  
  Keywords Animals; *Columbidae; *Visual Perception  
  Abstract One of the most common obstacles to object perception is the fact that objects often occlude parts of themselves and parts of other objects. Perceptual completion has been studied extensively in humans, and researchers have shown that humans do complete partly occluded objects. In an effort to understand more about the mechanisms underlying completion, recent research has extended the study of perceptual completion to other mammalian species. Monkeys and mice also seem to complete two-dimensional representations of partly occluded objects. The present study addresses the question of whether this capacity generalizes to a nonmammalian species, the pigeon (Columba livia). The results point to a limit of the generalizability of perceptual completion: pigeons do not complete partly occluded figures.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, ON, Canada  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0301-0066 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:8983050 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 377  
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Author Reid, P.J.; Shettleworth, S.J. openurl 
  Title Detection of cryptic prey: search image or search rate? Type Journal Article
  Year 1992 Publication Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process  
  Volume 18 Issue 3 Pages 273-286  
  Keywords Animals; Appetitive Behavior; *Attention; Color Perception; Columbidae; *Discrimination Learning; Food Preferences/psychology; *Imagination; *Mental Recall; *Predatory Behavior  
  Abstract Animals' improvement in capturing cryptic prey with experience has long been attributed to a perceptual mechanism, the specific search image. Detection could also be improved by adjusting rate of search. In a series of studies using both naturalistic and operant search tasks, pigeons searched for wheat, dyed to produce 1 conspicuous and 2 equally cryptic prey types. Contrary to the predictions of the search-rate hypothesis, pigeons given a choice between the 2 cryptic types took the type experienced most recently. However, experience with 1 cryptic type improved accuracy on the other cryptic type, a result inconsistent with a search image specific to 1 prey type. Search image may better be thought of as priming of attention to those features of the prey type that best distinguish the prey from the background.  
  Address University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0097-7403 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:1619395 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 381  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Shettleworth, S.J.; Plowright, C.M. openurl 
  Title How pigeons estimate rates of prey encounter Type Journal Article
  Year 1992 Publication Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process  
  Volume 18 Issue 3 Pages 219-235  
  Keywords Analysis of Variance; Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; Columbidae; Conditioning, Operant; Food Preferences/*psychology; Motivation; *Predatory Behavior; *Probability Learning; *Reinforcement Schedule; Social Environment  
  Abstract Pigeons were trained on operant schedules simulating successive encounters with prey items. When items were encountered on variable-interval schedules, birds were more likely to accept a poor item (long delay to food) the longer they had just searched, as if they were averaging prey density over a short memory window (Experiment 1). Responding as if the immediate future would be like the immediate past was reversed when a short search predicted a long search next time (Experiment 2). Experience with different degrees of environmental predictability appeared to change the length of the memory window (Experiment 3). The results may reflect linear waiting (Higa, Wynne, & Staddon, 1991), but they differ in some respects. The findings have implications for possible mechanisms of adjusting behavior to current reinforcement conditions.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0097-7403 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:1619391 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 382  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Dubois, F.; Giraldeau, L.-A.; Hamilton, I.M.; Grant, J.W.A.; Lefebvre, L. doi  openurl
  Title Distraction sneakers decrease the expected level of aggression within groups: a game-theoretic model Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication The American Naturalist Abbreviated Journal Am Nat  
  Volume 164 Issue 2 Pages E32-45  
  Keywords *Aggression; Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Columbidae/*physiology; Competitive Behavior; Cooperative Behavior; *Game Theory; Hawks/*physiology; Models, Biological  
  Abstract Hawk-dove games have been extensively used to predict the conditions under which group-living animals should defend their resources against potential usurpers. Typically, game-theoretic models on aggression consider that resource defense may entail energetic and injury costs. However, intruders may also take advantage of owners who are busy fighting to sneak access to unguarded resources, imposing thereby an additional cost on the use of the escalated hawk strategy. In this article we modify the two-strategy hawk-dove game into a three-strategy hawk-dove-sneaker game that incorporates a distraction-sneaking tactic, allowing us to explore its consequences on the expected level of aggression within groups. Our model predicts a lower proportion of hawks and hence lower frequencies of aggressive interactions within groups than do previous two-strategy hawk-dove games. The extent to which distraction sneakers decrease the frequency of aggression within groups, however, depends on whether they search only for opportunities to join resources uncovered by other group members or for both unchallenged resources and opportunities to usurp.  
  Address Departement des Sciences Biologiques, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Case postale 8888 Succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada. frede_dubois@yahoo.fr  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1537-5323 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15278850 Approved no  
  Call Number Serial 2130  
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Author Petruso, E.J.; Fuchs, T.; Bingman, V.P. doi  openurl
  Title Time-space learning in homing pigeons (Columba livia): orientation to an artificial light source Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 181-188  
  Keywords Animals; Circadian Rhythm; Columbidae/*physiology; Homing Behavior/physiology; Learning/*physiology; *Light; Orientation/*physiology; Space Perception/*physiology; Time Perception/*physiology  
  Abstract Time-space learning reflects an ability to represent in memory event-stimulus properties together with the place and time of the event; a capacity well developed in birds. Homing pigeons were trained in an indoor octagonal arena to locate one food goal in the morning and a different food goal in the late afternoon. The goals differed with respect to their angular/directional relationship to an artificial light source located outside the arena. Further, the angular difference in reward position approximated the displacement of the sun's azimuth that would occur during the same time period. The experimental birds quickly learned the task, demonstrating the apparent ease with which birds can adopt an artificial light source to discriminate among alternative spatial responses at different times of the day. However, a novel midday probe session following successful learning revealed that the light source was interpreted as a stable landmark and not as a surrogate sun that would support compass orientation. Probe sessions following a phase shift of the light-dark cycle revealed that the mechanism employed to make the temporal discrimination was prevailingly based on an endogenous circadian rhythm and not an interval timing mechanism.  
  Address Department of Psychology and J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17160343 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2432  
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Author Watanabe, S.; Troje, N.F. doi  openurl
  Title Towards a “virtual pigeon”: a new technique for investigating avian social perception Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 271-279  
  Keywords Animals; Behavioral Research/instrumentation/methods; Columbidae/*physiology; Computer Graphics; *Computer Simulation; Discrimination Learning/*physiology; Generalization (Psychology)/*physiology; Pattern Recognition, Visual/*physiology; Perceptual Masking/physiology; Rats; Recognition (Psychology)/physiology; *Social Behavior; User-Computer Interface  
  Abstract The purpose of the present study is to examine the applicability of a computer-generated, virtual animal to study animal cognition. Pigeons were trained to discriminate between movies of a real pigeon and a rat. Then, they were tested with movies of the computer-generated (CG) pigeon. Subjects showed generalization to the CG pigeon, however, they also responded to modified versions in which the CG pigeon was showing impossible movement, namely hopping and walking without its head bobbing. Hence, the pigeons did not attend to these particular details of the display. When they were trained to discriminate between the normal and the modified version of the CG pigeon, they were able to learn the discrimination. The results of an additional partial occlusion test suggest that the subjects used head movement as a cue for the usual vs. unusual CG pigeon discrimination.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Keio University, Mita 2-15-45, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108, Japan. swat@flet.keio.ac.jp  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:17024508 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2437  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Lea, S.E.G.; Goto, K.; Osthaus, B.; Ryan, C.M.E. doi  openurl
  Title The logic of the stimulus Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 4 Pages 247-256  
  Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/*physiology; Cognition/*physiology; Columbidae; Comprehension/physiology; Dogs; Humans; *Logic; Pattern Recognition, Visual/physiology; Perception/*physiology; Problem Solving/*physiology; Species Specificity  
  Abstract This paper examines the contribution of stimulus processing to animal logics. In the classic functionalist S-O-R view of learning (and cognition), stimuli provide the raw material to which the organism applies its cognitive processes-its logic, which may be taxon-specific. Stimuli may contribute to the logic of the organism's response, and may do so in taxon-specific ways. Firstly, any non-trivial stimulus has an internal organization that may constrain or bias the way that the organism addresses it; since stimuli can only be defined relative to the organism's perceptual apparatus, and this apparatus is taxon-specific, such constraints or biases will often be taxon-specific. Secondly, the representation of a stimulus that the perceptual system builds, and the analysis it makes of this representation, may provide a model for the synthesis and analysis done at a more cognitive level. Such a model is plausible for evolutionary reasons: perceptual analysis was probably perfected before cognitive analysis in the evolutionary history of the vertebrates. Like stimulus-driven analysis, such perceptually modelled cognition may be taxon-specific because of the taxon-specificity of the perceptual apparatus. However, it may also be the case that different taxa are able to free themselves from the stimulus logic, and therefore apply a more abstract logic, to different extents. This thesis is defended with reference to two examples of cases where animals' cognitive logic seems to be isomorphic with perceptual logic, specifically in the case of pigeons' attention to global and local information in visual stimuli, and dogs' failure to comprehend means-end relationships in string-pulling tasks.  
  Address School of Psychology, Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4QG, United Kingdom. s.e.g.lea@exeter.ac.uk  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:16909234 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2450  
Permanent link to this record
 

 
Author Blaisdell, A.P.; Cook, R.G. doi  openurl
  Title Integration of spatial maps in pigeons Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 8 Issue 1 Pages 7-16  
  Keywords Animals; Appetitive Behavior/physiology; Association Learning/*physiology; Columbidae/*physiology; Conditioning, Classical/physiology; *Cues; Problem Solving/*physiology; Space Perception/*physiology; Spatial Behavior/physiology  
  Abstract The integration of spatial maps in pigeons was investigated using a spatial analog to sensory preconditioning. The pigeons were tested in an open-field arena in which they had to locate hidden food among a 4x4 grid of gravel-filled cups. In phase 1, the pigeons were exposed to a consistent spatial relationship (vector) between landmark L (a red L-shaped block of wood), landmark T (a blue T-shaped block of wood) and the hidden food goal. In phase 2, the pigeons were then exposed to landmark T with a different spatial vector to the hidden food goal. Following phase 2, pigeons were tested with trials on which they were presented with only landmark L to examine the potential integration of the phase 1 and 2 vectors via their shared common elements. When these test trials were preceded by phase 1 and phase 2 reminder trials, pigeons searched for the goal most often at a location consistent with their integration of the L-->T phase 1 and T-->phase 2 goal vectors. This result indicates that integration of spatial vectors acquired during phases 1 and 2 allowed the pigeons to compute a novel L-->goal vector. This suggests that spatial maps may be enlarged by successively integrating additional spatial information through the linkage of common elements.  
  Address Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA. blaisdell@psych.ucla.edu  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15221636 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2521  
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Author Goto, K.; Wills, A.J.; Lea, S.E.G. doi  openurl
  Title Global-feature classification can be acquired more rapidly than local-feature classification in both humans and pigeons Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 7 Issue 2 Pages 109-113  
  Keywords Adult; Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; *Classification; Columbidae/*physiology; *Discrimination Learning; Form Perception; Humans; *Mental Processes; *Pattern Recognition, Visual; Species Specificity  
  Abstract When humans process visual stimuli, global information often takes precedence over local information. In contrast, some recent studies have pointed to a local precedence effect in both pigeons and nonhuman primates. In the experiment reported here, we compared the speed of acquisition of two different categorizations of the same four geometric figures. One categorization was on the basis of a local feature, the other on the basis of a readily apparent global feature. For both humans and pigeons, the global-feature categorization was acquired more rapidly. This result reinforces the conclusion that local information does not always take precedence over global information in nonhuman animals.  
  Address School of Psychology, Washington Singer Laboratories, University of Exeter, EX4 4QG, Exeter, UK. K.Goto@exeter.ac.uk  
  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher (up) Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15069610 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2530  
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