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Unraveling sources of stimulus control in a temporal discrimination task

Unraveling sources of stimulus control in a temporal discrimination task

| Springer | 2017 | DOI

Artigo de Jornal

In temporal discriminations tasks, more than one stimulus may function as a time marker. We studied two of them in a matching-to-sample task, the sample keylight and the houselight that signaled the intertrial interval (ITI). One group of pigeons learned a symmetrical matching-to-sample task with two samples (2 s or 18 s of a center keylight) and two comparisons (red and green side keys), whereas another group of pigeons learned an asymmetrical matching-to-sample task with three samples (2 s, 6 s, and 18 s) and two comparisons (red and green). In the asymmetrical task, 6-s and 18-s samples shared the same comparison. In a subsequent retention test, both groups showed a preference for the comparison associated with the longer samples, a result consistent with the hypothesis that pigeons based their choices on the duration elapsed since the offset of the houselight (i.e., sample duration + retention interval). Results from two no-sample tests further corroborated the importance of the ITI illumination as a time marker: When the ITI was illuminated, the proportion of choices correlated positively with the retention interval; when the ITI was darkened, choices fell to random levels. However, the absolute value of choice proportions suggested that the sample stimulus was also a time marker. How multiple stimuli acquire control over behavior and how they combine remains to be worked out.
This work was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre, University of Minho, and was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds, and when applicable co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (UID/PSI/01662/2013). This work was also supported by a FCT Doctoral Grant (SFRH/BD/78566/2011) to Carlos Pinto and a FCT Grant (PTDC/MHC-PCN/3540/2012) to Armando Machado.
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Publicação

Ano de Publicação: 2017

Editora: Springer

Identificadores

ISSN: 1543-4494