Do pigeons (Columba livia) study for a test?

Full Abstract

In 4 experiments, the authors asked whether pigeons (Columba livia) would show metamemory by choosing to study a sample stimulus before taking a memory test. In Experiments 1a-1c, pigeons chose between cues that led either to exposure to a sample stimulus or directly to the comparison test stimuli without seeing the sample in a delayed matching-to-sample task. The same choice was used in Experiment 2 to see whether pigeons would take a reminder when memory of the sample was weak. In Experiments 3 and 4, pigeons' responses led to either a choice between red and green side keys with a sample present to guide the choice or a choice with no sample present. The findings of all of these experiments suggest the absence of metamemory in pigeons. Copyright (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Author information

Author/s: Roberts, William A (WA); Feeney, Miranda C (MC); McMillan, Neil (N); MacPherson, Krista (K); Musolino, Evanya (E); Petter, Mark (M);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. roberts(-atsign-)uwo.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes (J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Apr; vol 35 (issue 2) : pp 129-42

Dates: Created 2009/04/14; Completed 2009/06/25;

PMID: 19364222, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/25/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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