Vasconcelos Marco, Urcuioli Peter J
Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, 701 Third Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2004, USA.
Behav Processes. 2011 Mar;86(3):305-15. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2011.01.002. Epub 2011 Jan 14.
Symmetry has been difficult to observe in nonhumans mainly because they seem to perceive stimuli as a conjunction of visual, spatial, and temporal characteristics. When such characteristics are controlled, symmetry does emerge in nonhumans (cf. Frank and Wasserman, 2005; Urcuioli, 2008). Recently, however, Garcia and Benjumea (2006) reported symmetry in pigeons without controlling for temporal order. The present experiments explored their paradigm and the ingredients for their success. Experiments 1 and 2 sought to replicate their findings and to examine different symmetry measures. We found evidence for symmetry using non-reinforced choice probe tests, a latency-based test, and a reinforced consistent versus inconsistent manipulation. Experiment 3 adapted their procedure to successive matching to evaluate their contention that a choice between at least two comparisons is necessary for symmetry to emerge. Contrary to their prediction, symmetry was observed following go/no-go training. Our results confirm Garcia and Benjumea's findings, extend them to other test and training procedures, and once again demonstrate symmetry in the absence of language.
对称性在非人类中一直难以观察到，主要是因为它们似乎将刺激视为视觉、空间和时间特征的结合。当这些特征得到控制时，对称性确实会在非人类中出现（参见弗兰克和瓦瑟曼，2005年；乌尔乔利，2008年）。然而，最近，加西亚和本胡梅亚（2006年）报告了鸽子身上的对称性，且未对时间顺序进行控制。本实验探究了他们的范式及其成功的要素。实验1和实验2试图重复他们的发现，并检验不同的对称性测量方法。我们通过非强化选择探测测试、基于潜伏期的测试以及强化的一致与不一致操作，找到了对称性的证据。实验3调整了他们的程序以进行连续匹配，以评估他们的观点，即对称性的出现需要在至少两个比较之间进行选择。与他们的预测相反，在进行“是/否”训练后观察到了对称性。我们的结果证实了加西亚和本胡梅亚的发现，将其扩展到其他测试和训练程序，并再次证明了在没有语言的情况下也存在对称性。
