Positive transfer from successive reversal training to learning set in blue jays ( Cyanocitta cristata ).

Abstract

A group of 5 blue jays received 160 successive reversal training (SRT) problems and were then tested on 96 learning set (LS) problems. During LS testing, these SRT birds performed at higher levels than did 5 jays that had received an equivalent amount of experience on a single problem (SP), but they performed at lower levels than did 5 jays that had received 160 previous LS problems. In addition, the SP birds performed better than did naive birds that experienced LS testing directly after pretraining. Analyses of the effects of the trial 1 outcome indicated that win-stay strategy learning may have produced the SP transfer and that lose-shift learning definitely contributed to SRT transfer. These results strongly support the conclusion that the learning of a win-stay, lose-shift response strategy underlies LS performance in blue jays.