The spontaneous interconnection of four repertoires of behavior in a pigeon (Columba livia).

A pigeon was trained to peck a small facsimile of a banana placed within its reach, to climb onto a box, to open a door, and to push a box toward targets. When confronted with a new situation-the banana was placed out of reach, and the box was placed behind the door-the four repertoires came together rapidly to produce a humanlike solution to the problem. A tentative account of the performance is offered in terms of empirically validated principles.