Kyle Horne
April 1 2016
1001
Khorne
Do Pigeons Already Generalize, or did they Just Want Food?
Summary
An experiment was performed in order to test role of concept learning in pigeons. This experiment used contextual cueing, a non differential reinforcement procedure that involves low-level supervision, to test concept learning in pigeons, rather than a differential reinforcement procedure, which involves high-level supervision.The experiment involved pigeons pecking at a target stimulus when exposed to a photograph. There were four categories of photograph: dogs, trees, keys, and shoes. The target stimuli were placed in one of the four corners of the photograph. The photographs were divided into correctly cued and incorrectly cued stimulus. …show more content…
I also chose this topic because it was similar to the experiment in our textbook that tested the abilities of pigeons to generalize and differentiate between categories using food as reinforcement, but this experiment expanded on it and tested whether or not pigeons had this ability innately. The questions asked initially in the report also made me question whether pigeons categorized and generalized innately, or they were taught to do so through reinforcement, when initially I had just assumed that they categorized naturally. This experiment made me question, if pigeons already generalize and categorize without being taught to do so, how well they and other nonhuman animals can generalize (as the categories presented in this experiment were quite different from one another), and how similar their ability to generalize is to that of human beings. This experiment also made me question what, if any, cognitive abilities are taught to humans and nonhuman animals solely through reinforcement, and what abilities are innately a part of the cognitive process. Through this report, I learned that previous experiments can always be altered and expanded upon in order to answer questions that they did not answer. I also learned that some things that we believe are taught to certain nonhuman animals are actually an innate part of their cognitive process, and that that the cognitive abilities of nonhuman animals are more similar to our own than we may
April 1 2016
1001
Khorne
Do Pigeons Already Generalize, or did they Just Want Food?
Summary
An experiment was performed in order to test role of concept learning in pigeons. This experiment used contextual cueing, a non differential reinforcement procedure that involves low-level supervision, to test concept learning in pigeons, rather than a differential reinforcement procedure, which involves high-level supervision.The experiment involved pigeons pecking at a target stimulus when exposed to a photograph. There were four categories of photograph: dogs, trees, keys, and shoes. The target stimuli were placed in one of the four corners of the photograph. The photographs were divided into correctly cued and incorrectly cued stimulus. …show more content…
I also chose this topic because it was similar to the experiment in our textbook that tested the abilities of pigeons to generalize and differentiate between categories using food as reinforcement, but this experiment expanded on it and tested whether or not pigeons had this ability innately. The questions asked initially in the report also made me question whether pigeons categorized and generalized innately, or they were taught to do so through reinforcement, when initially I had just assumed that they categorized naturally. This experiment made me question, if pigeons already generalize and categorize without being taught to do so, how well they and other nonhuman animals can generalize (as the categories presented in this experiment were quite different from one another), and how similar their ability to generalize is to that of human beings. This experiment also made me question what, if any, cognitive abilities are taught to humans and nonhuman animals solely through reinforcement, and what abilities are innately a part of the cognitive process. Through this report, I learned that previous experiments can always be altered and expanded upon in order to answer questions that they did not answer. I also learned that some things that we believe are taught to certain nonhuman animals are actually an innate part of their cognitive process, and that that the cognitive abilities of nonhuman animals are more similar to our own than we may