Stimulus control in a go/no-go procedure with compound stimuli with pigeons

Author(s)

Campos, Heloisa C. ^{[1, 2]} ; Debert, Paula ^{[1, 2]} ; Lionello-DeNolf, Karen ^[3] ; McIlvane, William J. ^{[1, 3]}

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Carlos, Natl Inst Sci & Technol Behav Cognit & Teaching, Lab Estudos Comportamento Humano, Dept Psicol, BR-13565905 Sao Carlos, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Expt Psychol, BR-05508900 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Massachusetts, Sch Med, Worcester Campus Shriver Ctr, Worcester, MA 01655 - USA

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Behavioural Processes; v. 115, p. 30-36, JUN 2015.
• Web of Science Citations: 0

Abstract

Our previous study using a go/no-go procedure with compound stimuli taught pigeons to peck at two-component compounds A1B1, A2B2, B1C1, B2C2 and refrain from pecking at A1B2, A2B1, B1C2, B2C1. Subjects showed training-consistent responding in tests presenting compounds rotated 180 degrees (BA and CB relations) but not recombined (AC and CA relations). It is unclear whether the responses to BA and CB stimuli were controlled by the relation between the components (conditional discrimination) or by the compounds functioning as a unitary stimulus (simple discrimination). The present study assessed whether the four pigeons from our previous study would show maintained discrimination when the positions of the components of each compound were changed relative to the training stimuli. Training components were rotated 90 degrees to the right and left (Tests 1 and 2, respectively), presented with a 1 cm separation (Test 3), and presented with a 1 cm separation and rotated 180 degrees (Test 4). Subject P11 maintained discriminations in all tests. Maintained discriminations were only observed in Tests 1 and 2 for P21, 1-3 for P10, and 1, 2, and 4 for P9. Results indicate that pigeons may not maintain discrimination when stimulus elements are presented further apart and/or rotated 180 degrees relative to training. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 08/57705-8 - Institute for the Study of Behavior, Cognition and Teaching
• Grantee: Deisy das Graças de Souza
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants