How is information seeking related to cue and outcome values in pigeons? A new, ecologically realistic foraging paradigm

通常将动物觅食解释为随机寻找奖励（如食物）和奖励预测线索（气味、颜色、形状等），或者是对有利可图地点的学习预期的结果。毫无疑问，寻找奖励是觅食活动的最终目标，动物可能会使用各种策略来获得奖励。但是动物寻找食物时究竟在做什么是一个值得讨论的问题。他们是否只关注可能遇到的提示和奖励？还是他们也在寻找能够尽可能准确地预测一致（可靠）的线索-奖励配对的信息？本项目旨在揭示信息在觅食任务中搜索努力和选择行为中的作用。该任务旨在将奖励预测线索对决策的影响降到最低，而信息总是与奖励较少的选项相关联。在最有价值（非信息性）的选项中，鸽子必须以33%的几率（平均每三次啄一次）啄食，无论钥匙是蓝色的还是黄色的。在奖励较少（完全信息）的选项中，鸽子必须在黄色提示显示后，以100%的机会给予提供食物的操作啄食（需要超过三次啄食才能获得黄色提示）。鸽子（Columba livia）将被用作动物模型，因为大量文献表明，这些鸟类对食物传递的信息高度敏感。与此同时，传统上使用的程序并不能告诉我们它们在觅食回合中如何使用这些信息。与食物不可预测性下动物觅食研究相关的行为理论的主要预测将被测试和对比。本项目的实验结果将告诉我们，在觅食任务中，哪些参数决定了信息寻求对初级奖励获取的损害，反之亦然。我们将能够评估选择，但也愿意进行搜索努力。

It is common to interpret animal foraging as a random search for reward (such as food) and reward-predictive cues (odors, colors, shapes, etc.) or as the result of a learned expectation of profitable locations. There are no doubts that finding rewards is the ultimate goal of foraging activity and that animals may use various strategies to obtain them. But what animals are exactly doing when they seek food is a matter of discussion. Are they only focused on the cues and the rewards to be possibly encountered? Or are they also searching for information capable of predicting consistent (reliable) cue-reward pairings as accurately as possible? The present project aims to uncover the role of information in search effort and choice behavior in a foraging task. The task is designed to minimize the effect of reward predictive cues on decision and information is always associated with the less rewarding option. In the most rewarding (non-informative) option, pigeons have to give operant pecks that provide food with a 33% chance (once every three pecks, on average), whether the key is blue or yellow. In the less rewarding (fully informative) option, pigeons have to give operant pecks that provide food with a 100% chance after a yellow cue has been displayed (more than three pecks are required to obtain a yellow cue). Pigeons (Columba livia) will be used as an animal model because a vast literature indicates that these birds are highly sensitive to information about food delivery. At the same time, the procedures traditionally used do not tell us much about how they use this information during a foraging bout. Major predictions of behavioral theories relevant to the study of animal foraging under food unpredictability will be tested and contrasted. The results of the experiments presented in this project will tell us which parameters determine information seeking to the detriment of primary reward procurement, and vice versa, in a foraging task. We will be able to assess choice but also the willingness to make search effort.