1 articles · Updated · Scientific American · Jun 30
Summary
Five-button tests showed pigeons kept using varied pecking patterns even after rewards, rather than settling into one reliable sequence.
Edward A. Wasserman's team designed the experiment to probe a less-tested part of Thorndike's 1898 law of effect: whether rewards make behavior not just more frequent but more consistent.
More than 50 years of pigeon research at the University of Iowa gave the finding extra weight, because the birds are a long-used model for studying learning and decision-making.
Researchers say that persistent variability may help animals adapt to changing environments, and they are now testing whether the same pattern appears in other species.