Some properties of many-to-one matching with hue, response, and food samples: retention and mediated transfer

Two experiments with pigeons examined retention and mediated transfer in many-to-one matching with hue, response and food samples. Transfer tests with hue samples provided the strongest evidence for common coding, whereas alternative coding may have occurred during interim training for response and food samples. In retention tests, greater accuracy was associated with presentation of different samples rather than with repeated presentations of the same sample. In addition, asymmetrical results were obtained in each dimension, with shallower retention gradients for no-food, green and one response than for food, red and twenty response.