The "lunching" effect: Pigeons track motion towards food more than motion away from it

Felipe Cabrera; Federico Sanabria; David Shelley; Peter R. Killeen

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2009.06.010

The "lunching" effect: Pigeons track motion towards food more than motion away from it

Felipe Cabrera, Federico Sanabria, David Shelley, Peter R. Killeen

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Four experiments measured pigeons' pecking at a small touch-screen image (the CS) that moved towards or away from a source of food (the US). The image's effectiveness as a CS was dependent on its motion, direction, and distance relative to the US. Pecking to the CS increased with proximity to the US when the CS moved towards the US (Experiment 1). This held true even when a departing CS signalled a US of greater magnitude (Experiment 2). Response rates to stationary stimuli were greater the closer they were to the hopper; but rate was less than when the same spot was part of a motion towards food, and greater than when it was part of a motion away (Experiment 3). The rate of responding in all three cases (motion towards, stationary, motion away) decreased exponentially with distance from the hopper. The distance and motion effects observed under these Pavlovian contingencies were different when pecking to the spot was required for reinforcement (Experiment 4).

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	229-235
Number of pages	7
Journal	Behavioural processes
Volume	82
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2009.06.010
State	Published - Nov 2009

Keywords

Causal learning
Classical conditioning
Motion
Pigeons
Spatial contiguity
Touch-screen

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Animal Science and Zoology
Behavioral Neuroscience

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10.1016/j.beproc.2009.06.010

Cite this

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abstract = "Four experiments measured pigeons' pecking at a small touch-screen image (the CS) that moved towards or away from a source of food (the US). The image's effectiveness as a CS was dependent on its motion, direction, and distance relative to the US. Pecking to the CS increased with proximity to the US when the CS moved towards the US (Experiment 1). This held true even when a departing CS signalled a US of greater magnitude (Experiment 2). Response rates to stationary stimuli were greater the closer they were to the hopper; but rate was less than when the same spot was part of a motion towards food, and greater than when it was part of a motion away (Experiment 3). The rate of responding in all three cases (motion towards, stationary, motion away) decreased exponentially with distance from the hopper. The distance and motion effects observed under these Pavlovian contingencies were different when pecking to the spot was required for reinforcement (Experiment 4).",

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The "lunching" effect: Pigeons track motion towards food more than motion away from it

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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