ABSTRACT
The notion that animals postperceptually process, or rehearse, information in short-term memory has been prominent in recent theoretical treatments of both associative learning (Wagner, 1976, 1978, 1981) and working memory (Grant, 1981a; Maki, 1981). The present chapter addresses the implications of the notion that animals rehearse for research and theory in the area of pigeon short-term memory. Considered initially is whether rehearsal has the same referent in the two contexts. To anticipate the subsequent discussion, it is argued that the characteristics attributed to rehearsal by Wagner differ markedly from those attributed to rehearsal by Grant and by Maki. It is suggested that this state of affairs arose because rehearsal in animals is not a unitary process. It is argued that it is appropriate to distinguish conceptually between two qualitatively different types or forms of rehearsal, types referred to as associative rehearsal and maintenance rehearsal.
