A motor-driven feeder for operant training in song birds

Njegovan, Milan; Hilhorst, Bill; Ferguson, Stephen M.; Weisman, Ronald G.

doi:10.3758/bf03204558

Cited by 44 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Each cage contained three perches, a water bottle and a grit cup. An opening on the side of the cage (11 Â 16 cm) gave each bird access to a motordriven feeder (see Njegovan, Hilhorst, Ferguson, & Weisman, 1994). Infrared cells in the feeder and the request perch (perch closest to the feeder) monitored the position of the bird.…”

Section: Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological salience influences performance and acoustic mechanisms for the discrimination of male and female songs

et al. 2015

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Section: Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological salience influences performance and acoustic mechanisms for the discrimination of male and female songs

et al. 2015

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“…For example, depending on the number of input and output lines necessary for a given paradigm, a single interface module may only control one or two training chambers, requiring the user to purchase multiple modules. Additionally, commercially available hardware components that are necessary for successful discrimination training, such as feeders, are often unsuitable for small birds (Njegovan et al 1994). To overcome these issues, laboratories implement custom-designed software and/or hardware systems (Okanoya & Dooling 1988; Schraff et al 1998; Houx & ten Cate 1999; Gentner et al 2000; Sturdy & Weissman 2006; van Heijningen et al 2009; Nagel et al 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated auditory recognition training and testing

et al. 2011

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Laboratory training and testing of auditory recognition skills in animals is important for understanding animal communication systems that depend on auditory cues. Songbirds are commonly studied because of their exceptional ability to learn complex vocalizations. In recent years, mounting interest in the perceptual abilities of songbirds has increased the demand for laboratory behavioural training and testing paradigms. Here, we describe and demonstrate the success of a method for auditory discrimination experiments, including all the necessary hardware, training procedures and freely-available, versatile software. The system can run several behavioural training and testing paradigms, including operant (go-nogo, stimulus preference, and two-alternative forced choice) and classical conditioning tasks. The software and some hardware components can be used with any laboratory animal that learns and responds to sensory cues. The peripheral hardware and training procedures are designed for use with songbirds and auditory stimuli. Using the go-nogo paradigm of the training system, we show that adult zebra finches learn to recognize and correctly classify individual female calls and male songs. We also show that learning the task generalizes to new stimulus classes; birds that learned the task with calls subsequently learned to recognize songs faster than did birds that learned the task and songs at the same time.

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“…Although the details of the experimental setups in these laboratories were different from one another, they all shared the common ability to use acoustic signals as discriminative stimuli and training techniques that would bring small birds under stimulus control of these acoustic stimuli. For our lab group in particular, we have used variations of Weisman's original conditioning setup for small birds (Njegovan, Hilhorst, Ferguson, & Weisman, 1994;Sturdy & Weisman, 2006). In brief, we train birds to use a perch and feeder so that we may test their perceptual abilities.…”

Section: Perceptual Categories (Notes Vocalizations)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving from Perceptual to Functional Categories in Songbirds

Sturdy¹,

Campbell²,

Congdon³

et al. 2017

IJCP

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Category perception, as Herrnstein (1990) defined it, is a powerful and pervasive cognitive ability possessed by every species in which it has been adequately tested. We have studied category perception of vocal communication signals in songbirds for over 20 years. Our first studies provided us with an understanding of songbird vocal category production and perception, clarifying perceptual categorization and the underlying mechanisms. More recent work has moved towards understanding functional vocal categories such as sex, dominance, species, and geography. Some of our most recent work has moved into the realm of conceptual knowledge, with studies aimed at understanding birds’ ability to deal with concepts of sameness and danger (i.e., threat level). Here we provide key examples that effectively show the wide range of abilities possessed and used by songbirds.

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A motor-driven feeder for operant training in song birds

Cited by 44 publications

References 3 publications

Biological salience influences performance and acoustic mechanisms for the discrimination of male and female songs

Biological salience influences performance and acoustic mechanisms for the discrimination of male and female songs

Automated auditory recognition training and testing

Moving from Perceptual to Functional Categories in Songbirds

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