This video tells part of the history of trained dancing chickens, with emphasis on the role played by psychologist B.F. Skinner (who is pictured below): Modern Farmer offers a more extensive history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._F._Skinner
Tag: Skinner
Pigeons as Trained Observers in the War on Cancer
Pigeons may be as good as some bad radiologists, in some ways, maybe, suggests this new study: “Pigeons (Columba livia) as Trainable Observers of Pathology and Radiology Breast Cancer Images,” Richard M. Levenson, Elizabeth A. Krupinski, Victor M. Navarro, and Edward A. Wasserman, PLoS ONE, 10(11): e0141357. (Thanks to Ig Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Oberzaucher for […]
Kinect and pigeon behavior
Technology has moved beyond anything B.F. Skinner had available when he did his imaginative pigeon-behavior experiments. This study tells of the latest advance: “A Kinect-based system for automatic recording of some pigeon behaviors,” Damian M. Lyons , James S. MacDonall, Kelly M. Cunningham, Behavior Research Methods, December 2015, Volume 47, Issue 4, pp 1044-1054. (Thanks to Andrew Caines […]
Crying Infant Assuager (new patent)
“Crying babies are the source of great frustration for adults, particularly for their parents. Because they cannot speak, infants cry as their primary means of communication and they do it with great frequency. Babies cry as a means to communicate that they are in pain, unhappy, tired, hungry or generally in need of attention. Sometimes […]
They trained chickens to play baseball, and then some
Psychologist B.F. Skinner’s operant conditioning work inspired the work of Marian Breland Bailey. Bailey’s work inspired this study: “Marian Breland Bailey: The Mouse Who Reinforced,” John N. Marr, Arkansas Historical Quarterly. Vol. 61, No. 1 (Spring, 2002), pp. 59-79. Marr writes: Marian and her first husband, Keller Breland, had become the most experienced and accomplished […]
Pop psychology: Skinner and Redenbacher
Two psychology tidbits, both involving Skinner and Redenbacher: First: Robin Abrahams, our psychology editor, notes that behaviorism psychologist B.F. Skinner and popcorn magnate Orville Redenbacher resembled each other [see photos here]. [NOTE: Can pigeons can be trained to distinguish photographs of one from photographs of the other? The experiment has not yet been done.] Second: A […]