Research article summary (published 30 Jan 2007):

Information processing by pigeons (Columba livia): incentive as information.

Full Abstract

Experiment 1 showed that the Hick-Hyman law (W. E. Hick, 1952; R. Hyman, 1953) described the effects of anticipated reinforcement, a form of incentive, on pigeons' (Columba livia) reaction time to respond to a target spatial location. Reaction time was an approximately linear function of amount of information interpreted as probability of reinforcement, implying that pigeons processed incentive at a constant rate. Experiment 2 showed that the Hick-Hyman law described effects of incentive even when it varied from moment to moment in a serial reaction time task similar to that of M. J. Nissen and P. Bullemer (1987), and processing information about target spatial location modulated absolute reaction time and not rate of processing incentive. The results support mental continuity and provide comparative support for the idea of the economics of information in economic theory about the incentive value of information.

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Author information

Author/s: Shimp, Charles P (CP); Froehlich, Alyson L (AL); Herbranson, Walter T (WT);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0251, USA. charlie.shimp(-atsign-)psych.utah.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) (J Comp Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Feb; vol 121 (issue 1) : pp 73-81

Dates: Created 2007/02/27; Completed 2007/05/02;

PMID: 17324077, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Animals Columbidae Information Theory Motivation Orientation Pattern Recognition, Visual

Pattern Recognition, Visual Probability Learning Reaction Time Reinforcement Schedule Serial Learning Set (Psychology)

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