Spatial reversal learning in rats, pigeons, and goldfish

Mackintosh, N. J.; Cauty, Ann

doi:10.3758/bf03335956

Cited by 24 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Bitterman reported that with repeated reversals of a simultaneous discrimination, rats and pigeons show progressive improvement in rate of acquisition, but goldfish do not. However, Mackintosh (1971) found that a minor change in the procedure can lead to similar improvement in the rate of acquisition of serial reversals for both goldfish and pigeons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The comparative psychology of uncertainty monitoring and metacognition

2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Researchers have begun to explore animals' capacities for uncertainty monitoring and metacognition. This exploration could extend the study of animal self-awareness and establish the relationship of self-awareness to other-awareness. It could sharpen descriptions of metacognition in the human literature and suggest the earliest roots of metacognition in human development. We summarize research on uncertainty monitoring by humans, monkeys, and a dolphin within perceptual and metamemory tasks. We extend phylogenetically the search for metacognitive capacities by considering studies that have tested less cognitively sophisticated species. By using the same uncertainty-monitoring paradigms across species, it should be possible to map the phylogenetic distribution of metacognition and illuminate the emergence of mind. We provide a unifying formal description of animals' performances and examine the optimality of their decisional strategies. Finally, we interpret animals' and humans' nearly identical performances psychologically. Low-level, stimulus-based accounts cannot explain the phenomena. The results suggest granting animals a higher-level decision-making process that involves criterion setting using controlled cognitive processes. This conclusion raises the difficult question of animal consciousness. The results show that animals have functional features of or parallels to human conscious cognition. Remaining questions are whether animals also have the phenomenal features that are the feeling/knowing states of human conscious cognition, and whether the present paradigms can be extended to demonstrate that they do. Thus, the comparative study of metacognition potentially grounds the systematic study of animal consciousness.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

The comparative psychology of uncertainty monitoring and metacognition

2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Additionally, in a concession to the rats’ poor visual acuity (Slotnick, 1984), all three involved spatial discriminations. Nonetheless, there is a history of processing differences in how rats and pigeons may attempt to solve different types of discrimination problems (Bitterman, 1965; Cheng & Roberts, 1989; Mackintosh, 1975; Mackintosh & Cauty, 1971). The same thing may possibly be true of MSR as rats seem to show a greater sensitivity to reinforcement outcomes as a switching cue than do pigeons.…”

Section: Control Of Switching Behavior By Reinforcement Cuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Organization of Behavior over Time: Insights from Mid-session Reversal

Rayburn-Reeves¹,

Cook²

2016

CCBR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

What are the mechanisms by which behavior is organized sequentially over time? The recently developed mid-session reversal (MSR) task offers new insights into this fundamental question. The typical MSR task is arranged to have a single reversed discrimination occurring in a consistent location within each session and across sessions. In this task, we examine the relevance of time, reinforcement, and other factors as the switching cue in the sequential modulation of control in MSR. New analyses also highlight some of the potential mechanisms underlying this serially organized behavior. MSR provides new evidence and we offer some ideas about how cues interact to compete for the control of behavior within and across sessions. We suggest that MSR is an excellent preparation for studying the competition among psychological states and their resolution toward action.

show abstract

“…In serial reversal learning, the reinforcement contingency repeatedly switches between the two stimuli (e.g. Mackintosh & Cauty, 1971). Under such recurring change, a wide range of species (Warren, 1965(Warren, , 1974 have been shown to reduce the number of errors across successive reversals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serial reversal learning in gray squirrels: Learning efficiency as a function of learning and change of tactics.

Chow¹,

Leaver²,

Wang³

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cogniti

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Learning allows individuals to adapt their behaviours flexibly to changing environment. When the same change recurs repeatedly, acquiring relevant tactics may increase learning efficiency under recurring change. We examined this relationship, along with the effects of proactive interference and other interference information, in a serial spatial reversal task with five grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). Squirrels completed an acquisition and 11 reversal phases with a poke box in which two out of four possible reward locations were baited diagonally in a square array. In this situation, an efficient tactic is to locate the diagonally related locations consecutively (integrative search tactic) instead of searching rewards in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction (sequential search tactic). All the squirrels formed a learning set acquiring successive reversals in fewer trials. Although four individuals gradually employed more integrative tactics in locating the rewards both within and between phases, sequential tactics were used in the first trial of each phase. This suggests the integrative tactic did not depend on an association between the rewarded locations but was learned as a spatial pattern and/or by use of extra-apparatus cues to locate individual reward. Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) models showed that learning efficiency increased with experience and tactic change. Although tactic change partially mediated the effect of learning on learning efficiency, learning retained an independent contribution to improved efficiency. Squirrels that used integrative tactics more made less total errors than squirrels that used less; suggesting learning a task relevant tactic using spatial cues can provide direct benefits in maximising rewards and minimising time costs.

show abstract

Spatial reversal learning in rats, pigeons, and goldfish

Cited by 24 publications

References 4 publications

The comparative psychology of uncertainty monitoring and metacognition

The comparative psychology of uncertainty monitoring and metacognition

The Organization of Behavior over Time: Insights from Mid-session Reversal

Serial reversal learning in gray squirrels: Learning efficiency as a function of learning and change of tactics.

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About