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W K Honig

Publications and source records attributed to W K Honig.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Discrimination of relative numerosity and stimulus mixture by pigeons with comparable tasks.

Arrays of small squares of 2 colors were presented in various proportions to pigeons on a video screen. Birds pecked differentially at the left or right side of the screen to obtain grain. In Experiment 1, pecking at 1 side was correct when more blue than red elements were Proportions of responses to the 2 locations reflected the proportions of elements in an orderly manner and were little affected by alterations in spacing or size of elements. When red Experiment 2, 1 side of the screen was correct when uniform red or blue arrays were presented; the other was correct for mixed arrays. Orderly gradients of response location reflected degree of stimulus mixture. Good transfer was obtained with green and blue elements. These results support the robust nature of discriminations of emergent properties of complex arrays when stimuli are equally associated with reinforcement and when response location, and not response rate, indicates stimulus control.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Transfer of a discrimination by pigeons (Columba livia) between pictured locations and the represented environments.

In Experiment 1, pigeons (Columba livia) were trained in a successive slide presentation procedure to discriminate between pictures of 2 ends of a room and then trained to find food in the actual room. A congruent-transfer (CT) group learned the spatial discrimination more quickly than an incongruent-transfer (IT) group. In Experiment 2's replication we used a simultaneous slide presentation procedure and added a control group. The IT group required significantly more trials than the CT or control groups. In Experiment 3, order of the training conditions was reversed. CT and IT conditions had no effect on the speed of acquisition of the discrimination. This indicates that pigeons acquire a representation of spatial locations from pictures, which can then direct behavior, but the direction of transfer observed was unidirectional. This suggests that a discrimination between spatial locations may not be accurately represented in pictorial form.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Discrimination by pigeons of mixture and uniformity in arrays of stimulus elements.

In 5 experiments, pigeons learned to discriminate uniform arrays of colored elements from mixed arrays containing 2 colors in various proportions. When only the uniform arrays were positive, mixture-negative gradients were obtained. When only the arrays containing equal numbers of red and blue elements were positive, mixture-positive gradients were obtained. When elements of different colors from 2 independent mixture-negative discriminations were recombined, mixture-negative gradients were obtained with the transfer patterns. When elements from a mixture-negative discrimination were combined with a new set of positive elements, responding was not suppressed. Appropriate combinations of the elements in mixture discriminations reduce responding, but the elements themselves do not acquire inhibitory properties.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Control of choice in conditional discriminations by sample-specific behaviors.

When sample-specific responding is occasioned by sample stimuli in matching and oddity tasks with pigeons, such responding controls the choices between comparison stimuli. This control was investigated in four experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, differential responding to the samples in line-line matching and line-line oddity was reversed following acquisition of these problems. The reversal interfered with reacquisition of the same conditional discrimination but facilitated acquisition of the opposite discrimination. In Experiment 3, pigeons initially trained on line-line matching were shifted to hue-line matching. Positive transfer occurred when correct choices in both tasks were paired with the same sample-response patterns. Conversely, negative transfer occurred when correct choices were paired with opposite patterns. In Experiment 4, two concurrent conditional discriminations were designed so that sample-response patterns were paired with specific sample stimuli, but not with correct choices. Faster acquisition occurred when response patterns differed within rather than between sample dimensions. Furthermore, sample-specific responding controlled choices when the dimensional stimuli were difficult to discriminate but not when they were easy to discriminate. The combined results are interpreted in terms of overshadowing. Visual stimuli that control choice can be overshadowed by sample-specific responding if the latter facilitates conditional discrimination acquisition.

Animals↗
PubMed1972

Effects of monochromatic rearing on spectral discrimination learning and the peak shift in chicks.

Chicks were hatched and raised in white or monochromatic sodium (589 nm) light. They were trained on a 590 (+) vs. 580 (-) nm successive discrimination. The combined results of two experiments indicated that rearing illumination did not affect discrimination acquisition. All subjects given generalization tests after discrimination training exhibited peak shifts that were equivalent for the two rearing conditions. The peak shifts exhibited by the monochromatically reared subjects represent maximum responding to stimuli they had not previously seen. This result further confirms the notion that behavioral control by the spectral dimension in birds is organized independently of differential early experience on that dimension.

Animals↗
PubMed1966

The role of discrimination training in the generalization of punishment.

Pigeons were trained to respond equally to various orientations of three parallel lines projected on a response key. One group was then punished for responding to the vertical lines, but not punished in a line-absent condition. Two other groups were also punished but had no opportunity to make such a discrimination. Orderly generalization gradients were obtained from the discrimination group during recovery from punishment, with least responding to the vertical lines and higher rates to other orientations. Gradients obtained from the non-discrimination groups were flat. A discrimination of punishment contingencies appears to be necessary for a stimulus correlated with punishment to acquire control over its reductive effects.

Animals↗