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Journal of Animal Science, Vol 72, Issue 12 3080-3087, Copyright © 1994 by American Society of Animal Science

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Discrimination learning and concept formation in the Arabian horse

B. F. Sappington and L. Goldman
Animal and Veterinary Sciences Department, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 91768.

Discrimination learning and concept formation abilities were investigated in four mature Arabian horses. A series of two-choice discrimination problems were presented on stimulus panels that could open to allow access to food bowls. Selection of the correct stimulus resulted in food reinforcement, and an incorrect choice was not rewarded. The positions of the correct and incorrect stimuli were varied randomly during each test session, and the criterion for learning each problem was 85% correct for two consecutive sessions of 30 or 40 trials. Testing progressed through six discrimination problems. The first four were simple pattern discriminations, but the last two incorporated several different triangles as correct stimuli and thus involved the concept of triangularity. Two of the subjects successfully completed only simple pattern discriminations, one showed evidence of learning in the first concept problem, and one completed all six tests, including the two concept formation problems. The results demonstrate complex pattern discrimination ability in horses, and suggest that they may also have the ability to form and use concepts in problem solving.


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C. A. Hall, H. J. Cassaday, and A. M. Derrington
The effect of stimulus height on visual discrimination in horses
J Anim Sci, July 1, 2003; 81(7): 1715 - 1720.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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Copyright © 1994 by the American Society of Animal Science.