Transfer of matching performance in pigeons.
After brief matching-to-sample training, pigeons generalized to new stimuli and quickly learned new matching rules.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers worked with three pigeons in a lab. The birds pecked three keys on a wall.
A sample shape or color appeared on the center key. The birds had to peck the side key that matched it.
After the birds mastered this, new shapes and colors showed up. The team watched to see if the birds still matched without extra training.
What they found
The pigeons picked the correct match about a large share of the time on the first try with new stimuli.
When the rules changed to symbolic matching (red means square), the birds reached a large share accuracy in just two sessions.
The study showed that stimulus equivalence training can create partial transfer to new items and fast rule switching.
How this fits with other research
Cohen (1969) saw the same generalization in pigeons ten years earlier. The new study adds speed data and symbolic rule changes.
Bailey (1984) moved the task to children and found that stable sample-coding responses drive generalization. Kids need clear stimulus control; pigeons seem to rely more on simple stimulus-response chains.
Cook (2002) later showed that consistent mapping is key for pigeons to learn same-different concepts. Howard (1979) had already shown that once matching is set, rule swaps can happen fast.
Why it matters
You can teach a new matching task without retraining every picture. Train a few exemplars, then probe with new ones. If the learner scores above a large share, keep going. If not, check stimulus control: make sure the sample is clearly the cue, not the key position. This saves hours of teaching time and keeps sessions fresh.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Three pigeons were given extensive training on three-key simultaneous matching problems using geometric-form and hue stimuli. After acquisition of matching, the birds were tested with pairs of stimuli involving one or both novel members. Matching during the test stimuli occurred less often than during the later stages of the acquisition phase, but more often than would occur if no transfer had taken place. Greater positive transfer was observed for problems that involved one, rather than two, novel stimuli. In the second phase of the experiment, previously trained birds were shifted to problems that required symbolic matching, i.e., the pigeons had to associate a particular center-key stimulus with a particular side-key stimulus. On each trial, one of two simuli was presented on the center key, and two other stimuli, different from those used on the center key, were displayed on the side keys. When the problem shift was introduced, correct responding was impaired, but remained considerably above chance level and quickly recovered in following sessions. The results were interpreted as favoring a stimulus-response-chaining account of matching behavior.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1979 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1979.31-103