Abstract
Delayed matching-to-sample is a versatile task that has been used to assess the nature of animal memory. Although once thought to be a relatively passive process, matching research has demonstrated considerable flexibility in how animals actively represent events in memory. But delayed matching can also demonstrate how animals fail to maintain representations in memory when they are cued that they will not be tested (directed forgetting) and how the outcome expected can serve as a choice cue. When pigeons have shown divergent retention functions following training without a delay, it has been taken as evidence of the use of a single-code/default coding strategy but in many cases an alternative account may be involved. Delayed matching has also been used to investigate equivalence learning (how animals represent stimuli when they learn that the same comparison response is correct following the presentation of two different samples) and to test for metamemory (the ability of pigeons to indicate that they understand what they know) by allowing animals to decline to be tested when they are uncertain that they remember a stimulus. How animals assess the passage of time has also been studied using the matching task. And there is evidence that when memory for the sample is impaired by a delay, rather than use the probability of being correct for choice of each of the comparison stimuli, pigeons tend to choose based on the overall sample frequency (base-rate neglect). Finally, matching has been used to identify natural color categories as well as dimensional categories in pigeons. Overall, matching to sample has provided an excellent methodology for assessing an assortment of cognitive processes in animals.
TY - JOUR
T1 - Delayed matching-to-sample: A tool to assess memory and other cognitive processes in pigeons.
AU - Zentall,Thomas R,
AU - Smith,Aaron P,
Y1 - 2015/07/09/
PY - 2015/04/22/received
PY - 2015/06/24/revised
PY - 2015/07/01/accepted
PY - 2015/7/14/entrez
PY - 2015/7/15/pubmed
PY - 2016/12/15/medline
KW - Base rate neglect
KW - Matching-to-sample
KW - Memory
KW - Metamemory
KW - Natural categories
KW - Stimulus equivalence
KW - Timing
SP - 26
EP - 42
JF - Behavioural processes
JO - Behav Processes
VL - 123
N2 - Delayed matching-to-sample is a versatile task that has been used to assess the nature of animal memory. Although once thought to be a relatively passive process, matching research has demonstrated considerable flexibility in how animals actively represent events in memory. But delayed matching can also demonstrate how animals fail to maintain representations in memory when they are cued that they will not be tested (directed forgetting) and how the outcome expected can serve as a choice cue. When pigeons have shown divergent retention functions following training without a delay, it has been taken as evidence of the use of a single-code/default coding strategy but in many cases an alternative account may be involved. Delayed matching has also been used to investigate equivalence learning (how animals represent stimuli when they learn that the same comparison response is correct following the presentation of two different samples) and to test for metamemory (the ability of pigeons to indicate that they understand what they know) by allowing animals to decline to be tested when they are uncertain that they remember a stimulus. How animals assess the passage of time has also been studied using the matching task. And there is evidence that when memory for the sample is impaired by a delay, rather than use the probability of being correct for choice of each of the comparison stimuli, pigeons tend to choose based on the overall sample frequency (base-rate neglect). Finally, matching has been used to identify natural color categories as well as dimensional categories in pigeons. Overall, matching to sample has provided an excellent methodology for assessing an assortment of cognitive processes in animals.
SN - 1872-8308
UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/26165174/Delayed_matching_to_sample:_A_tool_to_assess_memory_and_other_cognitive_processes_in_pigeons_
DB - PRIME
DP - Unbound Medicine
ER -
