Interocular transfer of conditioning and extinction in birds.

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Abstract
Chickens, pigeons, and ring-billed gulls [Gallus domesticus, Columba livia, Larus delawarensis] all with one eye covered were conditioned to withdraw from a previously neutral visual stimulus. Subsequent testing with the trained eye covered and the control eye open showed that transfer or nontransfer of conditioning was a function of the particular aversive stimulus used in conditioning; that is, transfer resulted when shock was used as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) but did not occur when the UCS was a rapidly looming visual stimulus or a loud noise. When both eyes were exposed to the conditioning procedure and then the response was extinguished by repeatedly presenting the conditioned stimulus to one eye only, the conditioned response remained strong for the control eye regardless of the UCS used in the initial training. These findings were consistent regardless of the order of treatments, and no substantive differences among the 3 spp. were apparent.