Pigeons' Performances of a Radial-Arm-Maze Analog Task: Effect of Spatial Distinctiveness

AB Administered a radial-arm-maze analog task to 16 pigeons involving 5 response keys in 1 of 4 spatial arrangements. Two of the 4 arrangements involved 2-dimensional key displays that differed in degree of spatial separation (large display vs small display). The other 2 arrangements involved 1-dimensional key displays in either a vertical or horizontal array. Ss' acquisition of the task was better with a 2-dimensional (spatially distinct) array of keys than a single dimension (linear array). Performance on the linear array was not significantly better than chance, indicating that the distinctiveness of cues is important for the processing of spatial information.