{"id":25958,"date":"2019-04-17T15:40:18","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T20:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/?p=25958"},"modified":"2025-08-20T02:01:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T07:01:54","slug":"inside-dr-pepperbergs-lab-when-favored-treats-arent-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/pet-birds\/inside-dr-pepperbergs-lab-when-favored-treats-arent-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Lab: When Favored Treats Aren\u2019t Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"side
Photo by strichpunkt\/Pixabay<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I\u2019ve noted previously, we always try to give our birds specific, task-related items as rewards when they respond correctly to our queries. So, for example,\u00a0 if they identify a piece of wood, they get to chew it up. Same for pieces of paper and such. Ditto if they give the correct color or shape \u2014 they get to chew on the green<\/em> ring or the four-corner<\/em> piece of wool. The point of such rewards is to ensure that the birds understand the one-to-one correspondence between the label they are using and the object that they receive. With this procedure, they quickly see that their labels are meaningful and can be used to obtain objects and alter their environment.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, however, we just can\u2019t give them these so-called \u201creferential\u201d rewards. Maybe the birds are so bored with the toys from extended play, or the objects are too expensive to replace. In those instances, we train them to use the label \u201cwant,\u201d so that they can request something else as a reward. In that case, we are still maintaining some reference, as we say things like \u201cYou\u2019re right! It\u2019s an X! Now, what do you want?\u201d\u2014 and then, within reason, we give them exactly what they request. Again, they see that their vocalizations are meaningful.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, the birds are actually directly working for a very desirable reward (e.g., finding a hidden nut) rather than labeling something. In those instances, we try to keep the rewards small enough so that we can fit plenty of trials into a given session before they stop working. Usually, treats like bits of raw cashews or organic crackers are such valued items for them, and they seem like bottomless pits in terms of consumption, that we don\u2019t have any problems getting through the tasks.<\/p>\n

Griffin Reaches His Limit<\/h3>\n

Every once in a while, however, the system breaks down, and if the resulting standoff between bird and humans weren\u2019t so frustrating, it would actually be amusing. We had one such instance when a colleague was visiting and needed to record Griffin saying similar labels (e.g., \u201ccork\u201d versus \u201ccorner\u201d) in order to analyze how these utterances differed in terms of various frequency patterns called “formants.” (Each human sound that we \u2014 and the parrots \u2014 produce is made up of energy bands, called formants, and the relative positioning of the bands, particularly the first and second, can be used to identify that specific sound\u2026such as the vowel in the word \u201chat\u201d versus that in \u201chit.”)<\/p>\n

A long time ago, my students and I did a similar analysis of Alex\u2019s vocalizations (Patterson & Pepperberg, 1994, 1998), in that case looking at labels that were even more closely related \u2014 so-called \u201cminimal pairs\u201d like tea<\/em> and pea<\/em> that differed by only one phoneme (a basic or \u201cminimal\u201d unit of speech). The idea for the current study is to see whether Griffin uses the same types of strategies to produce his labels as Alex had used, and whether the more advanced types of analyses now available will provide additional information. The problem was that we needed at least<\/em> 20 instances of each of the labels that my colleague wanted to study, which meant that we were asking Griffin to say the same things, over and over and over, for several days in a row.<\/p>\n

Initially, Griffin was fine. The several microphones in his face didn\u2019t faze him, and he labeled the objects and took them as his reward. Then he began to balk. Understandably \u2014 he wasn\u2019t making mistakes, and yet we kept asking the same questions! So, we started bribing him with nuts\u2026either very small pieces after every response, or somewhat bigger pieces after several responses. That worked for a while. Then we had to go to the bigger pieces for every answer. Finally, by Friday evening, he had absolutely had enough: Every time we brought out a new object, even if we showed him a nice big piece of cashew, he would turn away from us and start to preen\u2026or he would state \u201cWanna go back!\u201d (i.e., to his cage). Clearly, at some point, even his favorite treats just weren\u2019t enough to keep him working at what he viewed as a totally<\/em> boring task. We didn\u2019t take his picture, but anyone with parrot would have recognized the equivalent of the teenager\u2019s eye-roll that tells a parent, REALLY!!?!?! You\u2019ve GOTTA be kidding!<\/em><\/p>\n

We really couldn\u2019t blame Griffin \u2014 he\u2019s a living organism with his own wants and desires, and we had to respect his wishes. In the normal course of events, we would never<\/em> push our birds to work when it is clear that their interest in a task has waned. This time, however, because my colleague had only a few days to get all the necessary recordings, we were just hoping<\/em> that bribes would keep Griffin happy. And they did, but only to a certain extent. I guess that all creatures have their limits.<\/p>\n

Patterson, D.K. & Pepperberg, I.M. (1994). A comparative study of human and parrot phonation: I. Acoustic and articulatory correlates of vowels. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America,<\/em> 96:634\u2011648.<\/p>\n

Patterson, D.K. & Pepperberg, I.M. (1998). A comparative study of human and Grey parrot phonation: Acoustic and articulatory correlates of stop consonant<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What happens when a parrot is asked to repeat a task over and over \u2026will the prospect of receiving a favorite treat be enough to keep him going? Or do parrots, even when lavishly rewarded, reach their boiling point? 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