Pigeons solve problems in a similar way to artificial intelligence, research shows

Pigeons are highly intelligent animals that can remember faces, see the world in vivid colors, navigate complex routes, transmit news and even save lives. “The behavior of pigeons suggests that nature has created an algorithm that is highly effective at learning very challenging tasks,” said Edward Wasserman, study co-author and professor of experimental psychology at the University of Iowa.

How the study worked

On a screen, the pigeons received different stimuli, such as lines of different widths, positions and orientations. Each bird had to peck a button on the right or left to decide which category it belonged to. If they got it right, they won food, in the form of a ball; if they made a mistake, they won nothing.

“Pigeons don’t need a rule,” said Brandon Turner, lead author of the study and professor of psychology at Ohio State University. Instead, they learn through trial and error. For example, when they were given a visual, say “category A”, anything that looked close to that they also classified as “category A”, taking advantage of their ability to identify similarities.

Over the course of the experiments, the pigeons improved their ability to make the right choices 55% to 95% of the time when it came to some of the simplest tasks. Faced with a more complex challenge, its accuracy increased from 55% to 68%.

In an AI model, the main objective is to recognize patterns and make decisions. Pigeons, research shows, can do the same. Learning from consequences, pigeons have a remarkable ability to correct their mistakes. The similarity function is also at play for pigeons, using their ability to find similarity between two objects.

“With just these two mechanisms, you can set up a neural network or an artificial intelligence machine to basically solve these categorization problems,” Turner said. “It is logical that the mechanisms present in AI are also present in the pigeon.”

The researchers now aim to collaborate with scientists who study pigeons and their brains. They hope these findings can have practical applications in better understanding human brain damage.

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