Integrality/Separability of Stimulus Dimensions and Multidimensional Generalization in Pigeons Article

Soto, FA, Wasserman, EA. (2010). Integrality/Separability of Stimulus Dimensions and Multidimensional Generalization in Pigeons . 36(2), 194-205. 10.1037/a0016560

cited authors

  • Soto, FA; Wasserman, EA

authors

abstract

  • The authors present a quantitative framework for interpreting the results of multidimensional stimulus generalization experiments in animals using concepts derived from the geometrical approach to human cognition. The authors apply the model to the analysis of stimulus generalization data obtained from pigeons trained with different sets of stimuli varying along two orthogonal dimensions. Separable pigeons were trained with stimuli varying along the dimensions of circle size and line tilt, dimensions found to be separable in previous human research; integral pigeons were trained with stimuli varying along two dimensions of rotation in depth, dimensions that are intuitively integral and which hold special interest for theories of object recognition. The model accurately described the stimulus generalization data, with best fits to the City-Block metric for separable pigeons and to the euclidean metric for integral pigeons. © 2010 American Psychological Association.

publication date

  • April 1, 2010

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

start page

  • 194

end page

  • 205

volume

  • 36

issue

  • 2