Open AccessThe discrimination of structure: III. Representation of spatial relationships.
Author(s) -
Mark Haselgrove,
David N. George,
John M. Pearce
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of experimental psychology animal behavior processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1939-2184
pISSN - 0097-7403
DOI - 10.1037/0097-7403.31.4.433
Subject(s) - psychology , matching (statistics) , pattern recognition (psychology) , representation (politics) , discrimination learning , discrimination testing , outcome (game theory) , test (biology) , artificial intelligence , communication , cognitive psychology , statistics , mathematics , computer science , significant difference , politics , political science , paleontology , biology , law , mathematical economics
Pigeons received a discrimination in which the spatial relationship between 2 adjacent rectangles filled with different colors signaled the trial outcome. Test trials then involved the same rectangles separated horizontally by a gap. The tests in Experiment 1 disrupted the discrimination more when the rectangles were tall and thin than when they were short and wide. Experiment 2 revealed that the width of the rectangles rather than their height determined the extent to which separating them would disrupt the original discrimination. The results are explained in terms of a template-matching account of pattern recognition with the additional assumption, supported by Experiment 3, that the size of a template can be altered to improve its match with a test pattern.
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