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11th August 2005, 03:27 PM
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pigeons are like peopleI thought this was interesting.
Pigeons and people all bird brains 12.08.05 By Anne Beston Studying the irrational and impulsive behaviour of pigeons could help to solve the mystery of why humans don't always act in their own best interests. A study by Mike Colombo, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Otago, found pigeons don't like delayed gratification any more than we do. The research could one day lead to a treatment for impulsive behaviours such as problem gambling or attention deficit disorder. "The avian brain might look very different from the human brain, but they process information in much the same way we do," Professor Colombo said. The experiment involved trained pigeons which were offered a choice of left or right "response keys". Pecking the left one produced a small food reward, the right one, a large reward. To begin with, both keys produced a food reward at the same time, but gradually the larger food reward was delayed. At first the birds pecked for the big reward, but the longer they had to wait, the more often they went for the smaller reward instead. "At some point the bird just thinks, 'That's it, I'm not going to wait for the large reward, I'm going for immediate gratification'," Dr Colombo said. "That's what we do as humans, it's an impulse. The better option would be to wait for the delayed reward, it's more." The researchers measured the electric impulses in the pigeons' brains to find out exactly what happened when they made the decision not to wait for the larger reward. Particular neurons showed increased activity as the bird anticipated a reward, and the larger the reward, the bigger the brain activity. When the larger reward was delayed, activation of the neurons in the brain fell, which coincided with the decision to take the small reward. "We found the cells that basically code for when the animal wants to shift away from a long-delayed reward to an immediate reward," he said. "Once you find how the brain is coding for impulsive behaviour, you open up many more possibilities for research and cure." Some pigeons were definitely more impulsive than others, he said, "just like humans". more evidence pigeons are like people Tipsy pigeons August 11, 2005 Page Tools Email to a friend Printer format Wood pigeons in Whangarei, New Zealand, are having to be rescued after becoming drunk on guava berries. The berries ferment and intoxicate them, the BBC reports. A hard winter killed their usual forest food. Twenty-six birds had been rescued in the past month, said Robert Webb of the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre. "The birds are coming into the city to look for food and are eating the guava berries, which gets them paralytic. "We have to sober them up, give them lots of water and fresh liquids and keep them for a few days." Advertisement Last edited by mistenle; 11th August 2005 at 03:34 PM. 
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