Complex conditional control by pigeons in a continuous virtual environment.
Qadri, Muhammad A.
Reid, Sean.
Cook, Robert G.
2016.
- We tested two pigeons in a continuously streaming digital environment. Using animation software that constantly presented a dynamic, three‐dimensional (3D) environment, the animals were tested with a conditional object identification task. The correct object at a given time depended on the virtual context currently streaming in front of the pigeon. Pigeons were required to accurately peck correct ... read moretarget objects in the environment for food reward, while suppressing any pecks to intermixed distractor objects which delayed the next object's presentation. Experiment 1 established that the pigeons' discrimination of two objects could be controlled by the surface material of the digital terrain. Experiment 2 established that the pigeons' discrimination of four objects could be conjunctively controlled by both the surface material and topography of the streaming environment. These experiments indicate that pigeons can simultaneously process and use at least two context cues from a streaming environment to control their identification behavior of passing objects. These results add to the promise of testing interactive digital environments with animals to advance our understanding of cognition and behavior. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Qadri, M. A., Reid, S. and Cook, R. G. (2016), Complex conditional control by pigeons in a continuous virtual environment. Jrnl Exper Analysis Behavior, 105: 211-229, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.190. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.read less
- Qadri, M. A., Reid, S. and Cook, R. G. (2016), Complex conditional control by pigeons in a continuous virtual environment. Jrnl Exper Analysis Behavior, 105: 211-229. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeab.190.
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