Performance of the pigeon on the ambiguous-cue problem

Abstract

Three pigeons were trained on the two-choice ambiguous-cue problem which involves three stimuli: a positive stimulus, to which responding is always reinforced, a negative stimulus, to which responding is never reinforced, and an ambiguous stimulus, to which responding is sometimes reinforced and sometimes not reinforced, depending on which of the other stimuli is simultaneously presented. Using distinctively colored stimuli, all Ss quickly learned to choose the ambiguous stimulus when it was paired with the negative stimulus. Ss also learned, although more slowly, to choose the positive stimulus when it was paired with the ambiguous stimulus.