Comparative cognition of identity

Abstract

A generalised ability to recognise the identity and hence also the non-identity (or oddity) characterising pairs of stimuli is essential for many cognitive operations. It is established that the necessary same-different distinctions must neurally be based on relative assessments of sameness. The criteria by which a concept-like application of identity-oddity discrimination can be empirically demonstrated are stated. The experimental evidence on whether pigeons and more generally birds can command this twin concept is reviewed. It is shown that the only weak evidence yielded by earlier studies is ascribable to procedural defects underestimating the by-rote memory capacities of pigeons. The employment of an increased number of training stimuli enhances the transfer of the matching-non-matching distinction to novel stimuli. The conceptualisation is in fact best demonstrated when the task is turned into a straight stimulus familiarity-novelty discrimination. Based on this insigqt, it is argued that the competence for identity-oddity discrimination of birds and mammals (including humans) may be derived from a very basal, phylogenetically primitive stimulus-specific habituation mechanism controlling the orienting response and alternative specific responses.

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