Year: 1968
Type: article
Abstract: Three experiments, using a total of 13 pigeons, examined the stimulus control acquired by the separate components of a compound visual stimulus transilluminating the pecking key. Experiment I measured the control acquired by components of compound discriminative stimuli used in discrimination training. Experiment II sought to demonstrate the effect of pretraining a single stimulus discrimination on control acquired by each component in a compound stimulus discrimination. It also investigated the effect of training the compound stimulus discrimination before the single stimulus discrimination. Experiment III sought a continuous stimulus control function when pretraining stimulus intensities were varied. The results suggest that the extent to which a bird "pays attention" to a stimulus, defined in terms of the degree of stimulus control acquired by that stimulus, is determined by how well it previously learned to discriminate that stimulus from other stimuli.
Authors: Daniel F. Johnson, William W. Cumming
Institutions: Columbia University, Virginia Tech
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2005402417