| Abstract: | 10 white carneaux pigeons trained on an easy wavelength discrimination subsequently performed more accurately on a hard wavelength discrimination than did 10 controls trained on the hard problem from the outset. The effect was not a simple consequence of learning an easy problem, for a 3rd group (N=10), initially trained on the hard wavelength discrimination but with a 2nd relevant dimension added, performed no more accurately than controls. Nor was it due to a greater difference in response strengths to the stimuli of the hard problem, since a 4th group (N=10), initially trained on the reversal of the easy problem, eventually performed more accurately than controls. A 2nd experiment with 20 white carneaux pigeons of the same age, further disconfirmed this 2nd analysis, leaving it probable that the basic result is partly a consequence of the strengthening of attention to the relevant dimension. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
