CODING PROCESSES IN ANIMAL MEMORY

描述（改编自申请人摘要）： 认知学习的动物模型一直难以确定 动物如何编码（或表示）事件。 编码过程尤其 在刺激类的发展中很重要。 最近的证据表明 鸽子（和其他动物）可以形成刺激类， 无关的刺激。 这种刺激类成员的特征 它们能够以同样的方式相互替代 任意指定的口头和书面文字可以取代 人类语言中的物体和动作。 用鸽子进行的研究 将使用延迟匹配程序，其中鸽子已被证明， 开发单一代码默认策略（两个样本中的一个被编码- 默认情况下选择其他比较）。 单代码默认的证据 策略限制了可能的代码类别，并允许获得 获取底层代码 本研究的近期目标 是（a）检查鸽子使用的编码过程，（B）确定 使用这些编码过程的条件，以及（c） 识别基本代码的性质。 在第一部分中， 建议我们将研究编码的共同点存在/缺席 样品 在第二部分中，我们将应用类似的策略， 持续时间采样编码分析。 最后，我们将研究类似的 仅通过它们与一个或多个样本的关联而相关的样本的编码。 普通比较。 这项研究的长期目标是能够 详细说明动物刺激类别形成的基础， 确定哪些组件可能会从那些无法获得的人身上丢失 语言发展所需的刺激课程。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): An important limitation in animal models of cognitive learning has been the difficultly in specifying how animals code (or represent) events. Coding processes are particularly important in the development of stimulus classes. Recent evidence suggests that pigeons (and other animals) can form stimulus classes from originally unrelated stimuli. The characteristic of members of such stimulus classes is that they are able to substitute for one another in much the same way that arbitrarily-designated spoken and written words can be substituted for objects and actions in human language. The proposed research with pigeons will use delayed-matching procedures in which pigeons have been shown to develop single-code-default strategies (one of two samples is coded - the other comparison is chosen by default). Evidence for single-code-default strategies restricts the class of possible codes and allows one to gain access to the underlying codes. The immediate goals of the present research are (a) to examine the coding processes used by pigeons, (b) to determine the conditions under which these coding processes are used, and (c) to identify the nature of the underlying codes. In the first section of this proposal we will examine commonalities in the coding of present/absent samples. In the second section we will apply similar strategies to the analysis of duration sample coding. Finally, we will examine the similar coding of samples that are related only through their association with a common comparison. The long-term goal of this research is to be able to specify the bases of stimulus class formation by animals so one can determine which components might be missing from humans who fail to acquire the stimulus classes needed for language development.