Episodic-like memory: Pigeons can report location pecked when unexpectedly asked

Abstract

Pigeons were tested for their ability to report the location they recently pecked, without prior experience having to do so. They were first pretrained to report the location that they had just pecked. They were then trained on a conditional discrimination to associate yellow and blue samples with vertical and horizontal comparisons, respectively, independent of comparison location. On probe trials in testing, when after choosing a vertical or horizontal line following the yellow or blue sample, the pigeons were 'asked' which location they had just pecked, they showed a significant tendency to choose correctly in spite of the fact that location of the correct comparison was incidental to the task. Performing on probe trials is analogous to asking the pigeons an unexpected question about their recent behavior and it is similar to the episodic memory question asked of humans, "What did you have for breakfast this morning?".