An animal model of the interpersonal communication of interoceptive (private) states.

McIntire et al. (1987) worked with pigeons to see if birds could tell us how they felt inside.

The birds first learned to peck the left key when given a drug and the right key when given salt water.

Next the team swapped in new drugs the birds had never seen. The birds still picked the correct key, even with no food reward for doing so.

The pigeons could report their internal drug state with almost no errors.

The skill carried over to new drugs, showing the birds were not just memorizing one feeling.

Even when food no longer followed correct picks, the birds kept reporting accurately.

McMillan et al. (1997) used a slightly different schedule and got the same clear drug-versus-saline choices. This match tells us the result is solid across small procedure tweaks.

Lancioni et al. (2009) pushed the idea further. They taught pigeons to pick among four keys: drug A, drug B, both, or neither. The birds still sorted the feelings correctly, showing the 1987 skill can scale up.

Rider (1981) showed pigeons can also report their own recent response pattern. Together these studies say birds can be conditioned to tell us about two kinds of private events: what they just did and how they feel inside.

If a pigeon can learn to tact an internal state, so can a child with autism who can’t yet say “my stomach hurts.” You can start with clear outside cues, then fade to internal ones. Use the same steps: teach a label, test with new but similar feelings, and thin reinforcement once the report is strong. The bird data say the skill will hold.