Application of Bower's one-element model to paired-associate learning by pigeons.
Learning can flip from none to all in one step—plan for that jump.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three pigeons learned color pairs in a small lab box.
Pecks on the correct key produced grain.
The team tracked every response to see if learning jumped from zero to perfect in one step.
What they found
Birds switched from guessing to mastery almost overnight.
The sudden jump matched Bower’s one-element model.
Small data, clear pattern: all-or-none learning works for pigeons too.
How this fits with other research
Winton (1975) ran a similar pigeon lab and found peak shift after simultaneous cues.
Both studies show quick discrimination learning, but S tested what happens next—generalization errors.
LeFrancois et al. (1993) later showed hens also sharpen discrimination when the cost of each peck rises.
Together the papers say: animals snap to the right choice, then fine-tune as the task gets harder.
Why it matters
If learning is all-or-none, don’t linger in middle steps.
Teach the full discrimination early, then use errorless probes to check the flip.
Watch for sudden jumps in your data—they signal the rule has clicked.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Bower's (1961) all-or-none model of human paired-associate learning was applied to individual data supplied by three pigeons. When the center one of three keys was illuminated with red light or with three white dots in a vertical array on a black ground, pecking on the left key was reinforced. When the center key was lighted green or with a horizontal array of three white dots on a black ground, pecking on the right key was reinforced. The left and right keys were illuminated with white light. The task was considered to be analogous to learning a paired-associate list of four pairs involving four stimulus items and two response items. The model was evaluated by comparing the following model predictions with values obtained from each animal: trials-to-criterion, standard deviation of trials-to-criterion, standard deviation of errors-to-criterion, mean error runs, mean error runs of lengths one to four, and autocorrelations of errors of lags one to three. Most of the predictions based upon the model were in close agreement with the obtained data.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1973 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1973.19-219