Journal article
The role of numerical and nonnumerical magnitudes in pigeons’ conditional discrimination behavior
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal learning and cognition, Vol.49(4), pp.253-272
10/01/2023
DOI: 10.1037/xan0000368
PMID: 37883030
Abstract
Research on approximate numerical estimation suggests that numerical representations can be influenced by nonnumerical magnitudes. Current theories of numerical cognition differ on the nature of this interaction. The present project evaluated the effect of task requirements on the stimulus control exerted by numerical and nonnumerical magnitudes on pigeons’ numerical discrimination behavior. In a series of experiments, we explored the effects of cumulative area and item size on pigeons’ numerical discrimination. The effect of cumulative area was assessed by presenting visual displays in which cumulative area and item number were either positively correlated, uncorrelated, or negatively correlated. The effect of item size was evaluated by presenting displays in which the size of individual items was varied across trials. Results confirmed that pigeons’ numerical discrimination behavior accorded with Weber’s law, a prime indicator of nonsymbolic numerical representation. The results further indicated that pigeons did not use numerical information when nonnumerical magnitudes also provided reliable information to solve the discrimination task. However, task manipulations that rendered the information provided by nonnumerical magnitudes unreliable successfully shifted stimulus control toward numerical magnitudes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The role of numerical and nonnumerical magnitudes in pigeons’ conditional discrimination behavior
- Creators
- Francisca Diaz - University of IowaEdward A Wasserman - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of experimental psychology. Animal learning and cognition, Vol.49(4), pp.253-272
- Publisher
- American Psychological Association
- DOI
- 10.1037/xan0000368
- PMID
- 37883030
- ISSN
- 2329-8456
- eISSN
- 2329-8464
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/01/2023
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984500247902771
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