ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the categorization and representation of two real-world categories by one simple processing system, the pigeon. It investigates the influence of the number of training stimuli and their correlation with reinforcement on the acquisition and transfer of a categorical discrimination. The chapter explores the issue of stimulus and exemplar equivalence within a category. It provides an analysis of the stimulus features that control the discrimination of the two categories. The basic organization of the discrimination used in the experiments is similar to those previously used in investigating categorization in pigeons. The pigeons discriminate between two sets of stimuli in a classical conditioning variation of the go/no-go discrimination task. The pigeons seem to perceive the stimuli in a manner consistent with the intended purpose of the drawings, that is, of an animal against an independent background.
