Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: thedoc on 02/09/2014 17:02:40

Title: What do pigeons and humans have in common?
Post by: thedoc on 02/09/2014 17:02:40
Bird brained? In an experiment, both humans and pigeons were
shown to assess risk in the same way.
Read a transcript of the interview by clicking here (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/1000875/)
or [chapter podcast=1000835 track=14.09.02/Naked_Scientists_Show_14.09.02_1002656.mp3](https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenakedscientists.com%2FHTML%2Ftypo3conf%2Fext%2Fnaksci_podcast%2Fgnome-settings-sound.gif&hash=f2b0d108dc173aeaa367f8db2e2171bd) Listen to it now[/chapter] or [download as MP3] (http://nakeddiscovery.com/downloads/split_individual/14.09.02/Naked_Scientists_Show_14.09.02_1002656.mp3)
Title: None
Post by: RMG on 14/09/2014 20:04:40
This interview was very interesting and got me thinking... In normal pigeon experience the food supply probably isn't unpredictable in the same way as a deliberately randomized experiment. So any experience that has had a large payoff in the past might well be worth repeating so that the bird can learn how to predict or even influence the (chances of) payoff in the future.

It reminds me of some roulette players I once saw who were acting out various superstitions during the game, presumably hoping to increase their chances of success.