Observational learning of a conditional hue discrimination in pigeons

Three experiments examined a relationship between cooperation and observational learning in pigeons using procedures similar to Skinner (1962). In Experiment 1, dyads cooperated by searching and pecking nearly simultaneously on the correct pair of adjacent keys of a 2 × 2 matrix. The dyads learned to search for the correct keys in a coordinated fashion, but only if they were permitted to watch one another's performance. Experiment 2 disconfirmed the hypothesis that the coordinated performance of cooperating pigeons reflects an unlearned response tendency to peck at locations close to where the other bird is pecking. Experiment 3 demonstrated that prior cooperation training involving an observer and demonstrator pigeon facilitated subsequent observational learning of a conditional hue discrimination. Cooperation training appeared to facilitate observational learning by establishing the demonstrator's peck response as an instructional stimulus which indicated the reward significance of the discriminative stimuli.