Conditional Time-Place Learning.

Encoding the spatial location and the time at which significant biological events occur is thought to be a fundamental way in which memory is organized in animals. Some field data on gulls' foraging behavior suggests that time-place behavior may consist of a conditional discrimination. In this study gulls flew at sunrise to locations containing earth worms, but only after rainfall. The purpose of the present research was to attempt to demonstrate conditional time-place learning in the laboratory. Pigeons were trained to visit three sites successively in two different orders that were signaled by room and test chamber cues. The pigeons successfully learned the task, supporting the notion that time-place foraging behavior can be modulated by other environmental regularities.