Date of Award
Summer 8-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Paul Nealen, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Christina Ruby, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Daniel Widzowski, Ph.D.
Abstract
The zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is an excellent animal model for study of the ability of birds to discriminate between sound stimuli. Males learn to develop individual birdsongs at young ages to attract mates. Females learn to discern the calls and song of their mates amongst those of other finches. This study was focused on operant conditioning in finches for their ability to discriminate between sound stimuli. Zebra finches were trained to accomplish an auditory-based GO-NOGO discrimination task. The finches learned to respond to a "GO" sound stimulus by activating the sensor, and to respond to a "NOGO" sound stimulus with inaction. Responses to the two stimulus types were learned differently. The error rate in the GO stimulus response started high and steadily decreased, while the NOGO error rate started low, increased and peaked during mid-training, and decreased. This suggested that there were different neural mechanisms for learning each response.
Recommended Citation
Anand, Kusuma, "Stimulus Valence Influences Auditory Discrimination Training Speed and Profile in Finches" (2017). Theses and Dissertations (All). 1498.
https://knowledge.library.iup.edu/etd/1498