Zentall Thomas R, Stagner Jessica P
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA.
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process. 2010 Oct;36(4):506-9. doi: 10.1037/a0020202.
Recently, Roberts et al. (2009) have suggested that pigeons performing delayed matching-to-sample appear unwilling to request to see the sample again (or even for the first time) prior to choice, even if that choice would result in an increase in matching accuracy. In each of their four experiments, however, presentation (Experiments 3 & 4) or representation of the sample (Experiments 1 & 2) resulted in an added delay to reinforcement. Thus, the pigeons had to choose between an immediate reinforcer on about 50% of the trials and a delayed reinforcer on a significantly higher percentage of the trials. In the present research, when we equated the two alternatives for delay to reinforcement, we found that pigeons generally showed a significant preference for trials with a relevant sample over trials with an irrelevant sample. When the contingencies were reversed, most of the pigeons reversed their preference. Although these results do not present evidence for metacognition, they do show that pigeons are sensitive to the potential for a higher probability of reinforcement when delay to reinforcement is controlled.
最近，罗伯茨等人（2009年）指出，在延迟匹配样本任务中，鸽子在做出选择之前似乎不愿意要求再次看到样本（甚至是第一次看到样本），即使这样做会提高匹配的准确性。然而，在他们的四个实验中，每次样本的呈现（实验3和4）或表征（实验1和2）都会导致强化延迟增加。因此，鸽子不得不在大约50%的试验中选择立即强化物，而在更高比例的试验中选择延迟强化物。在本研究中，当我们使两种强化延迟的选择相等时，我们发现鸽子通常对有相关样本的试验表现出明显的偏好，而不是对有无关样本的试验。当条件反转时，大多数鸽子也会改变它们的偏好。虽然这些结果并没有提供元认知的证据，但它们确实表明，当强化延迟得到控制时，鸽子对更高强化概率的可能性很敏感。
