pigeon and task visual

Resolving the Associative Learning Paradox

How powerful is associative learning? On the one hand, it powers amazing feats of artificial intelligence. On the other hand, it is deemed to be a simple and limited form of learning.

In the March 2023 issue of Current Biology, Wasserman et al. show that, via associative learning, pigeons learn a categorization task that can stump more sophisticated forms of learning.

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2024

Wasserman, E. A., Turner, B. M., & Güntürkün, O. (2024). The Pigeon as a Model of Complex Visual Processing and Category Learning. Neuroscience Insights, 19, 26331055241235918.

2023

Wasserman, E. A. (2023). A deep dive into innovation. American Scientist, 111, 50-54. https://www.americanscientist.org/article/a-deep-dive-into-innovation

Wasserman, E. A., Kain, A. G., & O’Donoghue, E. M. (2023). Resolving the associative learning paradox by category learning in pigeons. Current Biology, 33, 1112-1116.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.01.024

Wasserman, E. A. (2023). On the origin of the Post-it note:  Intelligently designed? Skeptical Inquirer, 47, 52-56. https://skepticalinquirer.org/2023/06/on-the-origin-of-the-post-it-note-intelligently-designed/

Wasserman, E. A. (2023). The lightbulb moment, innovation’s most misleading meme. Association for Psychological Science Observer, https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-lightbulb-moment

Turner, B. M., & Wasserman, E. A. (2023). The pigeon as a machine: Complex category structures can be acquired by a simple associative model. iScience, 26, 107998.

Diaz, F., & Wasserman, E. A. (2023). The role of numerical and nonnumerical magnitudes in pigeons’ conditional discrimination behavior.  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 49, 253-272.

2022

O’Donoghue, E. M., Broschard, M. B., Freeman, J. F., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2022).  The Lords of the Rings:  People and pigeons take different paths mastering the Concentric-Rings categorization task.  Cognition, 218, 104920.

O’Donoghue, E. M., Diaz, F., Navarro, V. M. & Wasserman, E. A.  (2022).  It’s not all the same to pigeons:  Representations of difference may be shared across species.  Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 29, 882-890.

Wasserman, E. A., & Castro, L.  (2022).  The Rescorla-Wagner Model:  The culmination of Hume’s theory of causation.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 48, 315-320.

O’Donoghue, E. M., Castro, L., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2022).  Hierarchical and configural control in conditional discrimination learning.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 48, 370-382.

2021

Hochmann, J-R., Wasserman, E., & Carey, S.  (2021).  Editorial overview: Same-different conceptualization.  Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 37, iii-v.

Wasserman, E. A., Young, M. E., & Castro, L.  (2021).  Mechanisms of same–different conceptualization: entropy happens!  Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 37, 19-28.

O’Donoghue, E. M., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2021).  Pigeons proficiently switch among four tasks without cost.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 150-162.

Castro, L., Yang, S., Savic, O., Sloutsky, V., & Wasserman, E.  (2021).  Not all exceptions are created equal:  Learning of exceptions in pigeons’ categorization.  Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28, 1344-1353.

Broschard, M. B., Kim, J., Love, B. C., Wasserman, E. A., & Freeman, J. H.  (2021).  Prelimbic cortex maintains attention to category-relevant information and flexibly updates category representation.  Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 185, 1-14.

Delamater, A. R., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2021).  Comparative cognition—Conceptual and methodological advancements.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 219-222.

Castro, L., Wiger, E. R., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2021).  Focusing and shifting attention in pigeon category learning.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 371-383.

Diaz, F., O’Donoghue, E. M., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2021).  Two-item conditional same-different categorization in pigeons:  Finding differences.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 455-463.

Wasserman, E. A., & Castro, L.  (2021).  Assessing attention in category learning by animals.  Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30, 495-502.

Smirnova, A. A., Obozova, T. A., Zorina, Z. A., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2021).  How do crows and parrots come to spontaneously perceive relations-between-relations?  Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 37, 109-117.

Chandel, H., Boring, M., Zentall, T. R., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2021).  Should I stay or should I go?  Pigeons’ (Columba livia) performance of a foraging task has implications for optimal foraging theory and serial pattern learning.  Journal of Comparative Psychology, 135, 266-272.

2020

Castro, L., Savic, O., Navarro, V. M., Sloutsky, V., & Wasserman, E.  (2020).  Selective and distributed attention in human and pigeon category learning.  Cognition, 204, 104350.

Navarro, V. M., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2020).  Bidirectional conditioning:  Revisiting Asratyan’s ‘alternating’ training technique.  Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 171, 1-9.

Navarro, V. M., Wasserman, E. A., & Slomka, P.  (2020).  Taking pigeons to heart:  Birds proficiently diagnose human cardiac disease.  Learning and Behavior, 48, 9-21.

O’Donoghue, E. M., Broschard, M. B., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2020).  Pigeons exhibit flexibility but not rule formation in dimensional learning, stimulus generalization, and task switching.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 46, 107-123.

2019

Peissig, J. J., Young, M. E., Wasserman, E. A., & Biederman, I.  (2019).  Pigeons spontaneously form three-dimensional shape categories.  Behavioural Processes, 158, 70-76.

Broschard, M. B., Kim, J., Love, B. C., Wasserman, E. A., & Freeman, J. H.  (2019).  Selective attention in rat visual category learning.  Learning and Memory, 26, 84-92.

Wasserman, E., Levenson, R., & Navarro, V.  (2019).  Principle behind Google’s April Fools’ pigeon prank proves more than a joke.  The Conversation.  https://theconversation.com/principle-behind-googles-april-fools-pigeon-prank-proves-more-than-a-joke-99565

Navarro, V. M., Jani, R., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2019).  Pigeon category learning:  Revisiting the Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins (1961) tasks.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 45, 174-184.

Rosenbaum, D. A., Fournier, L. R., Levy-Tzedek, S., McBride, D. M., Rosenthal, R., Sauerberger, K., VonderHaar, R. L., Wasserman, E. A., & Zentall, T. R.  (2019).  Sooner rather than later:  Precrastination rather than procrastination.  Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28, 229-233.

Sheridan, C. L., Castro, L., Fonseca, S., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2019).  The role of category density in pigeons’ tracking of relevant information.  Learning and Behavior, 47, 234-244.

De Corte, B. J., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2019).  Nonhuman sequence learning findings argue against Hoerl and McCormack’s two systems of temporal cognition.  Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 42, e248.

Wasserman, E. A.  (2019).  Precrastination:  The fierce urgency of now.  Learning and Behavior, 47, 7-28.

2018

Castro, L., Wasserman, E. A., & Lauffer, M. C.  (2018).  Unsupervised learning of complex associations in an animal model.  Cognition, 178, 28-33.

Castro, L., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2018).  Retrospective revaluation.  In J. Vonk & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of animal cognition and behavior.  Heidelberg:  Springer-Verlag.

Vyazovska, O. V., Navarro, V. M., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2018).  Pigeons deploy selective attention to efficiently learn a stagewise multidimensional visual discrimination taskJournal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 44, 162-167.

Darby, K. P., Castro, L., Wasserman, E. A., & Sloutsky, V. M.  (2018).  Cognitive flexibility and memory in pigeons, human children, and adults.  Cognition, 177, 30-40.

Kim, J., Castro, L., Wasserman, E. A., & Freeman, J. H.  (2018).  Dorsal hippocampus is necessary for visual categorization in rats.  Hippocampus, 28, 392-405.

2017

Wasserman, E. A., Castro, L., & Fagot, J.  (2017).  Relational thinking in animals and humans:  From percepts to concepts.  American Psychological Association Handbook of Comparative Cognition, Vol. 2, J. Call (Editor-in-Chief), pp. 359-384.

Lauffer, M. C., Castro, L., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2017).  Chrysippus’ pigeon:  Exclusion-based responding in an avian model.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 43, 139-146.

Wasserman, E. A., & Thompson, R. K. R.  (2017).  Capuchin monkeys can make and use stone tools.  Learning and Behavior, 45, 103-104.

García-Gallardo, D., Navarro, V. M., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2017).  Assessing the acquisition of anticipatory responding in the pigeon using reaction time.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 43, 197-203.

Castro, L., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2017).  Feature predictiveness and selective attention in pigeons’ categorization learning.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 43, 231-242.

Wasserman, E. A., & Scerri, E. R.  (2017).  Forget the insight of a lone genius – innovation is an evolving process of trial and error.  The Conversationhttps://theconversation.com/forget-the-insight-of-a-lone-genius-innovation-is-an-evolving-process-of-trial-and-error-77760

Castro, L., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2017).  Relational concept learning in birds.  In C. ten Cate & S. D. Healy (Eds.), Avian cognition.  Cambridge, UK:  Cambridge University Press, pp. 229-248.

Castro, L., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2017).  Perceptual and abstract category learning in pigeons.  In Handbook of categorization in cognitive science.  In H. Cohen & C. Lefebvre (Eds.).  Cambridge, MA:  Elsevier.  Pp. 709-732.

De Corte, B. J., Navarro, V. M., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2017).  Non-cortical magnitude coding of space and time by pigeons.  Current Biology, 27, R1249–R1267.

Wasserman, E. A.  (2017).  He’s Pavlov and we’re the dogs:  How Pavlovian conditioning really works in human psychology.  The Conversationhttps://theconversation.com/hes-pavlov-and-were-the-dogs-how-associative-learning-really-works-in-human-psychology-86191

Lazareva, O. F., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2017).  Categories and concepts in animals.  In R. Menzel (Ed.), Learning theory and behavior.  Learning and memory:  A comprehensive reference 2e, Vol. 1 (J. Byrne, Ed.), pp. 111-139.  Oxford:  Elsevier.

2016

Castro, L., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  Executive control and task switching in pigeons.  Cognition, 146, 121-135.

Navarro, V. M., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  Stepwise conceptualization in pigeons.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 42, 44-50.

Wasserman, E. A., & Cullen, P.  (2016).  Evolution of the violin:  The Law of Effect in action.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 42, 116-122.

Couto, K. C., Navarro, V. M., Smith, T. R., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  Concept learning without differential reinforcement in pigeons by means of contextual cueing.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  Animal Learning and Cognition, 42, 221-227.

Wasserman, E. A.  (Ed.).  (2016).  Comparative cognition.  Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 105, 1-229.  (Special Issue).

Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  Conceptualization in pigeons:  The evolution of a paradigm.  Behavioural Processes, 123, 4-14.

Castro, L., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  Attentional shifts in categorization learning:  Perseveration but not learned irrelevance.  Behavioural Processes, 123, 63-73.

Lazareva, O. F., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  No evidence for feature binding by pigeons in a change detection task.  Behavioural Processes, 123, 90-106.

Soto, F. A., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  Promoting rotational-invariance in object recognition despite experience with only a single view.  Behavioural Processes, 123, 107-113.

Kim, J., Wasserman, E. A., Castro, L., & Freeman, J. H.  (2016).  Anterior cingulate cortex inactivation impairs rodent visual selective attention and prospective memory.  Behavioral Neuroscience, 130, 75-90.

Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  What we make and do can evolve with no end in sight.  This View of Life, https://thisviewoflife.com/what-we-make-and-do-can-evolve-with-no-end-in-sight/

Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  Thinking abstractly like a duck(ling).  Science, 353, 222-223.

Vyazovska, O. V., Navarro, V. M., & Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  Stagewise multidimensional visual discrimination by pigeons.  Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 106, 58-74.

Roembke, T. C., Wasserman, E. A., & McMurray, B.  (2016).  Learning in rich networks involves both positive and negative associations.  Journal of Experimental Psychology:  General, 145, 1062-1074.

Wasserman, E. A.  (2016).  Face facts:  Even nonhuman animals discriminate human faces.  Learning and Behavior, 44, 307-308.