Complex conditional control by pigeons in a continuous virtual environment.

ABSTRACT: We tested two pigeons in a continuously streaming digital environment. Using animation software that constantly presented a dynamic, three-dimensional (3D) environment, the animals were tested with a conditional object identification task. The correct object at a given time depended on the virtual context currently streaming in front of the pigeon. Pigeons were required to accurately peck correct target objects in the environment for food reward, while suppressing any pecks to intermixed distractor objects which delayed the next object's presentation. Experiment 1 established that the pigeons' discrimination of two objects could be controlled by the surface material of the digital terrain. Experiment 2 established that the pigeons' discrimination of four objects could be conjunctively cont

SUBMITTER: Qadri MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4877626 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature