Self-recognition in pigeons revisited.
Pigeons can learn mirror self-recognition when you first train matching peck responses with mirror use and food rewards.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two pigeons learned to peck at their own bodies when a mirror showed a colored sticker on their feathers.
First the birds got food for pecking near the sticker while they could see the mirror.
Later the sticker was sneakily added while the birds slept. When they woke and saw the mirror, they still pecked the sticker, showing they knew the image was of themselves.
What they found
After training, both birds passed the classic mirror mark test. They used the mirror to find and peck a spot they could not see directly.
The pigeons acted as if they understood the reflection was their own body, a skill once thought limited to humans, apes, and dolphins.
How this fits with other research
Last et al. (1984) found most autistic preschoolers also pass the mark test without any special teaching. The birds needed step-by-step reinforcement; the children did not.
Reddy et al. (2010) showed that autistic kids who do pass still play less with their reflection. The pigeons only pecked for food, not for social fun.
Rider (1983) saw pigeons fail to report their own recent actions. Emiko’s birds succeeded only after the trainer made the peck response and mirror use part of the same food chain. The new study does not cancel the old one; it shows self-recognition can be built if you first weld the response to the mirror image.
Why it matters
If a bird can learn self-recognition through chaining, so can a child who lacks it. Break the skill into tiny pieces: teach the child to touch a sticker on their hand while looking in a mirror, then fade prompts and add praise. The study reminds us that complex social behaviors are responses first and insights second.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Recognition of a self-image in a mirror is investigated using the mark test during which a mark is placed onto a point on the body that is not directly visible, and the presence or absence of self-directed behaviors is evaluated for the mirror-observing subjects. Great apes, dolphins, possibly elephants, and magpies have all passed the mark test, that is, displayed self-directed behaviors, whereas monkeys, crows, and other animals have failed the test even though they were able to use a mirror to find a not-directly-visible object. Self-directed behavior and mirror use are prerequisites of a successful mark test, and the absence of these behaviors may lead to false negative results. Epstein, Lanza, and Skinner (1981) reported self-directed behavior of pigeons in front of a mirror after explicit training of self-directed pecking and of pecking an object with the aid of a mirror, but certain other researchers could not confirm the results. The aim of the present study was to conduct the mark test with two pigeons that had received extensive training of the prerequisite behaviors. Crucial points of the training were identical topography (pecking) and the same reinforcement (food) in the prerequisite behaviors as well as sufficient training of these behaviors. After training for the prerequisite behaviors, both pigeons spontaneously integrated the learned self-directed and mirror-use behavior and displayed self-directed behavior in a mark test. This indicates that pigeons display mirror self-recognition after training of suitable ontogenetic contingency.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 2014 · doi:10.1002/jeab.112