AVIAN SAME/DIFFERENT CONCEPT LEARNING AND PERCEPTION

这项建议的总体目标是阐明更高级的鸟类认知，例如概念行为和关系学习。本研究使用同异(S/D)判别法来探索鸽子如何从实物的照片中提取范畴信息和学习抽象关系。第一系列研究将从相同或不同的视角呈现物体的图片。如果鸽子在一组不相同的图片上识别出相同的对象，那么对象辨别应该比观看辨别进行得更快。第二系列将采用S/D交替过程，在该过程中，图像A和B(除了一个变化之外是相同的，例如，遗漏了一个对象)以每个图像之间的短间隔连续地交替。受试者发现差异的容易程度将告诉我们，有多少注意力被分配到物体的图像上，以及它们在感知过程中被处理的时间有多早。第三个系列将训练学生辨别两对图片，在这两对图片中，每对图片彼此共享相同的关系(AA与CC；或AB与CD)或不同的关系(AA与CD)。尽管Premack认为只有人类和经过语言训练的黑猩猩才能做出抽象的S/D判断，但用一个非灵长类、非符号的物种(例如鸽子)来验证这一说法是很重要的。更好地理解动物的概念和关系学习将增加我们对人类更高层次认知的理解，有助于发现和开发认知障碍的治疗方法，并促进生态有效的教育实践。

The general aim of this proposal is to shed light on higher-order avian cognition, e.g., conceptual behavior and relational learning. The studies use same-different (S/D) discriminations to explore how pigeons extract categorical information from photographs of real objects and learn abstract relations. The first series of studies will present pictures of objects from the same or different views. If pigeons recognize the same object across sets of non-identical pictures, then object discrimination should proceed faster than view discrimination. The second series will employ the S/D alternation procedure in which pictures A and B (that are identical except for one change, e.g., omission of an object) are serially alternated with a brief interval between each picture. The ease with which subjects detect a difference will tell us how much attention is allocated to images of objects and how early in perception they are processed. The third series will train Ss to discriminate between two pairs of pictures in which each pair shares the same (AA versus CC; or AB versus CD) or different (AA versus CD) relation with each other. Though Premack has argued that only humans and language trained chimpanzees can make abstract S/D judgements, it is important to test this claim with a non-primate, non-symbol using species (e.g., the pigeon). A greater understanding of conceptual and relational learning in animals will increase our understanding of higher-order human cognition, contribute to the detection and development of treatments of cognitive disorders and facilitate ecologically valid educational practices.