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This cyber chapter reviews research in our
labs on how the pigeon uses landmarks to pinpoint a location. Much of the
research relies on the transformational approach. In this approach, the
bird is trained to find a place defined by a landmark array. After learning
the task, the array may be transformed in various ways on crucial tests.
The pigeon, like the rat, relies in part on a representation of the broad
shape of the environment to tell which direction is which. This shape record
is called the geometric module. When cues from various landmarks are available,
the pigeon typically averages the dictates of different cues. We can see
this when the cues conflict in their dictates. On the other hand, they
often do not use all the available cues, but rely selectively on a subset,
a phenomenon known as selective stimulus control. Pigeons encode and calculate
the metric properties of distance and direction to landmarks. Distances
and directions are computed independently. Pigeons use the configurations
of landmarks to identify which landmark is which. For example, a landmark
might be encoded as the top left one of an array. Landmark-based search
follows a number of general laws of learning, including overshadowing,
spatial peak shift, and spatial generalization. We suggest that other general
laws of learning may be examined in the spatial domain. Other future research
topics include how the bird uses vectors to travel a path, and how it measures
distance traveled.
This cyber chapter is organized into modules that are to a good extent
independent of one another. We have ordered them in what we think is the most logical
order. Each module consists of a largely pictorial presentation, with
additional details and comments as needed.
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