Pigeon Same-Different Concept Learning with Multiple Stimulus Classes
Robert G. Cook, Jeffrey S. Katz, & Brian R. Cavoto
Two experiments examined the acquisition and transfer of a complex Same-Different discrimination by pigeons. Using a two-alternative choice task, five pigeons were reinforced for discriminating odd-item Different displays, in which a contrasting target was present, from Same displays where all the elements were identical. Four different types of Same-Different displays were concurrently tested. The display types differed in their configuration (texture versus visual search organization), the nature of their elements (small and large colored shapes; pictures of birds, flowers, fish, and humans), and the processing demands required by their global/local element arrangement. Despite these differences, the birds learned to discriminate all four display types at the same rate and showed positive discrimination transfer to novel examples of each type suggesting that a single generalized rule was used to discriminate all display types. These results provide some of the strongest evidence yet that pigeons, like many primates, can learn an abstract visually-mediated "Same-Different" concept.
Examples of the Same and Different Displays of each stimulus class tested with the pigeons
Texture Displays
Feature Displays
Geometric Displays
Object Displays
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Dynamic
Texture Stimuli 
Same-Different
& SDT 
Same-Different
w/ Multiple Stimuli
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Revised: 08/25/99