Abstract

We used delay-interval interference to investigate the nature of the differential outcomes effect (DOE) in pigeons. Birds were trained on a delayed matching-to-sample (DMS) task under either common outcome or differential outcome conditions, and then presented with visual interference during the delay period. Consistent with previous literature, the common outcomes birds were slower to learn the DMS task than the differential outcomes birds. The common outcome birds were also more impaired by the visual interference than the differential outcomes birds. Our findings are consistent with the view that the birds trained with common outcomes were likely remembering the sample stimulus during the delay period, and hence were disrupted by the visual interference, whereas the birds trained with differential outcomes were likely relying on the different emotional reactions elicited by the different outcomes to guide their choice behaviour, and hence were less affected by the visual interference. Our findings suggest that the DOE is not truly evidence of anticipatory mediation of short-term retention in pigeons, but rather emotionally driven decision making, which is not truly anticipatory in nature.

Highlights

  • According to Zentall and Sherburne [1], the differential outcomes effect (DOE) is considered to be one of the most integral foundations of animal cognition research

  • We found a significant Condition x Interference interaction, F(1, 10) = 5.20, p < .05, which is due to the fact that the interference impaired performance of the common outcomes (CO) birds more than the DO birds

  • Whilst the CO birds were more impaired by the interference than the DO birds, we found a significant main effect of Interference, F(1, 10) = 51.79, p < .001, which suggests that the DO birds were still affected by the visual interference

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Summary

Introduction

According to Zentall and Sherburne [1], the differential outcomes effect (DOE) is considered to be one of the most integral foundations of animal cognition research. The DOE refers to a phenomenon where subjects learn tasks faster when different rewards are uniquely associated with different responses [2, 3]. Are tasks learned faster, but rewarding responses differentially substantially decreases the rate of forgetting over a long period of time [4]. Animals form distinct expectancies based on the different sample-reinforcer associations. These expectancies act as additional cues for the subject to base its decision when it has to make a choice, and these additional cues lead to faster learning and better retention during a delay [2, 3]

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