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MEMORY FOR TWO STIMULUS‐RESPONSE ITEMS IN PIGEONS
Author(s) -
Jitsumori Masako,
Sugimoto Sukeo
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1982.38-63
Subject(s) - stimulus control , reinforcement , stimulus (psychology) , psychology , audiology , discriminative model , discrimination learning , cognitive psychology , social psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , neuroscience , medicine , nicotine
Six pigeons served in a discrete‐trial experiment on short‐term memory. Combinations of three key positions and two ordinal positions, yielding six possible sequences of stimulus‐response pairs, were used as lists of items. A retention interval separated list presentation from the test phase in which two (for Group 1) or three (for Group 2) keys were illuminated with either red or green light. A reinforcer was delivered if a subject pecked the key of the first item on a red trial and the key of the second item on a green trial. When the retention interval was lengthened from one to five or nine seconds, a systematic loss of stimulus control resulted. Lengthening the interval between items from one to eight seconds had a much smaller effect for the birds in Group 1, whereas a systematic loss of stimulus control was found in red trials for the birds in Group 2. The functional relations between choice accuracy and delay provided an empirical basis for analysis of what relations among temporal events can become discriminative stimuli.