Does Probability Matching Require Complex Representations?

Introduction

Representational approaches to animal behavior (e.g., Gallistel, 1990; Myerson and Miezin, 1980) posit that complex group behavior results from complex representations of events within the central nervous systems of individual animals. For example, ducks feeding from two food sources distribute themselves proportionately to the density of food available at each source. This phenomenon, probability matching, is typically explained by attributing representations of the density of food available at each source within the CNS of each duck.