Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

All Outputs (43)

Transfer of spatial search between environments in human adults and young children (Homo sapiens): implications for representation of local geometry by spatial systems (2013)
Journal Article
Lew, A., Usherwood, B., Fragkioudaki, F., Koukoumi, V., Smith, S., Austen, J., & McGregor, A. (2014). Transfer of spatial search between environments in human adults and young children (Homo sapiens): implications for representation of local geometry by spatial systems. Developmental Psychobiology, 56(3), 421-434. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21109

Whether animals represent environmental geometry in a global and/or local way has been the subject of recent debate. We applied a transfer of search paradigm between rectangular- and kite-shaped arenas to examine the performance of human adults (usin... Read More about Transfer of spatial search between environments in human adults and young children (Homo sapiens): implications for representation of local geometry by spatial systems.

Clever crows or unbalanced birds? (2013)
Journal Article
Dymond, S., Haselgrove, M., & McGregor, A. (2013). Clever crows or unbalanced birds?. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(5), Article E336. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1218931110

Taylor et al. claimed that New Caledonian crows are capable of reasoning about “hidden causal agents.” Their recorded increases in hide inspections and abandoned trials in the unknown causal agent (UCA) condition relative to the human causal agent (H... Read More about Clever crows or unbalanced birds?.

Spontaneous object recognition memory is maintained following transformation of global geometric properties (2013)
Journal Article
Poulter, S., Kosaki, Y., Easton, A., & McGregor, A. (2013). Spontaneous object recognition memory is maintained following transformation of global geometric properties. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes, 39(1), 93-98. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030698

Studies of spontaneous behavior to assess memory are widespread, but often the relationships of objects to contexts and spatial locations are poorly defined. We examined whether object-location memory was maintained following global, but not local, c... Read More about Spontaneous object recognition memory is maintained following transformation of global geometric properties.

Gender-based navigation stereotype improves men’s search for a hidden goal (2012)
Journal Article
Rosenthal, H., Norman, L., Smith, S., & McGregor, A. (2012). Gender-based navigation stereotype improves men’s search for a hidden goal. Sex Roles, 67(11-12), 682-695. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-012-0205-8

While a general stereotype exists that men are better at navigating than women, experimental evidence indicates that men and women differ in their use of spatial strategies, and this preference determines gender-differences. When both environmental g... Read More about Gender-based navigation stereotype improves men’s search for a hidden goal.

Pigeons and Doves (2010)
Book Chapter
McGregor, A., & Haselgrove, M. (2010). Pigeons and Doves. In R. Hubrecht (Ed.), The UFAW Handbook on the Care and Management of Laboratory Animals (686-697). (8th ed). Blackwell

Absence of overshadowing between a landmark and geometric cues in a distinctively shaped environment: A test of Miller and Shettleworth (2007) (2009)
Journal Article
McGregor, A., Horne, M., Esber, G., & Pearce, J. (2009). Absence of overshadowing between a landmark and geometric cues in a distinctively shaped environment: A test of Miller and Shettleworth (2007). Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes, 35(3), 357-370. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014536

Rats in the first 2 experiments, which were designed to test predictions from a model of spatial learning by N. Y. Miller and S. J. Shettleworth (2007), had to escape from a triangular pool by swimming to a submerged platform in a geometrically uniqu... Read More about Absence of overshadowing between a landmark and geometric cues in a distinctively shaped environment: A test of Miller and Shettleworth (2007).

Impaired processing of local geometric features during navigation in a water maze following hippocampal lesions in rats (2007)
Journal Article
Jones, P., Pearce, J., Davies, V., Good, M., & McGregor, A. (2007). Impaired processing of local geometric features during navigation in a water maze following hippocampal lesions in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 121(6), 1258-1271. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7044.121.6.1258

Hippocampal damage impairs navigation with respect to information provided by the shape of an arena. Recent evidence has suggested that normal rats use local geometric information, as opposed to a global geometric representation, to navigate to a cor... Read More about Impaired processing of local geometric features during navigation in a water maze following hippocampal lesions in rats.

The discrimination of natural movement by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulates) and pigeons (Columba livia). (2007)
Journal Article
Mui, R., Haselgrove, M., McGregor, A., Futter, J., Heyes, C., & Pearce, J. (2007). The discrimination of natural movement by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulates) and pigeons (Columba livia). Journal of experimental psychology, 33(4), 371-380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.33.4.371

Three experiments examined the ability of birds to discriminate between the actions of walking forwards and backwards as demonstrated by video clips of a human walking a dog. Experiment 1 revealed that budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulates) could disc... Read More about The discrimination of natural movement by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulates) and pigeons (Columba livia)..

Context- but not familiarity-dependent forms of object recognition are impaired following excitotoxic hippocampal lesions in rats (2007)
Journal Article
Good, M., Barnes, P., Staal, V., McGregor, A., & Honey, R. (2007). Context- but not familiarity-dependent forms of object recognition are impaired following excitotoxic hippocampal lesions in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 121(1), 218-223. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7044.121.1.218

Dual-process models of recognition memory in animals propose that recognition memory is supported by two independent processes that reflect the operation of distinct brain structures: a familiarity process that operates independently of the hippocamp... Read More about Context- but not familiarity-dependent forms of object recognition are impaired following excitotoxic hippocampal lesions in rats.

Blind imitation in pigeons (Columba livia) (2006)
Journal Article
McGregor, A., Saggerson, A., Pearce, J., & Heyes, C. (2006). Blind imitation in pigeons (Columba livia). Animal Behaviour, 72(2), 287-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.10.026

Pigeons that had been trained with a food reward both to peck at and to step on a horizontal plate were allowed to observe a conspecific demonstrator pecking at or stepping on the plate before a test in which the observers were not rewarded for eithe... Read More about Blind imitation in pigeons (Columba livia).

Potentiation, overshadowing and blocking of spatial learning based on the shape of the environment (2006)
Journal Article
Pearce, J., Graham, M., Good, M., Jones, P., & McGregor, A. (2006). Potentiation, overshadowing and blocking of spatial learning based on the shape of the environment. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes, 32(3), 201-214. https://doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.32.3.201

Rats were trained in Experiment 1 to find a submerged platform in 1 corner of either a rectangular or a kite-shaped pool. When the walls creating this corner were a different color than the opposite walls, then learning about the shape of the pool wa... Read More about Potentiation, overshadowing and blocking of spatial learning based on the shape of the environment.

Further evidence that rats rely on local rather than global spatial information to locate a hidden goal: Reply to Cheng & Gallistel (2005) (2006)
Journal Article
McGregor, A., Jones, P., Good, M., & Pearce, J. (2006). Further evidence that rats rely on local rather than global spatial information to locate a hidden goal: Reply to Cheng & Gallistel (2005). Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes, 32(3), 314-321. https://doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.32.3.314

Naive male Hooded Lister rats (Rattus norvegicus) were required to find a submerged platform in a right-angled corner between a long and a short wall of a pool in the shape of an irregular pentagon. Tests in a rectangular pool revealed a preference f... Read More about Further evidence that rats rely on local rather than global spatial information to locate a hidden goal: Reply to Cheng & Gallistel (2005).

Spatial learning based on the shape of the environment is influenced by properties of the objects forming the shape. (2006)
Journal Article
Graham, M., Good, M., McGregor, A., & Pearce, J. (2006). Spatial learning based on the shape of the environment is influenced by properties of the objects forming the shape. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes, 32(1), 44-59. https://doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.32.1.44

In 3 experiments rats had to find a submerged platform that was located in a corner of a kite-shaped pool. The color of the walls creating this corner provided an additional cue for finding the platform in the shape + color condition but not the shap... Read More about Spatial learning based on the shape of the environment is influenced by properties of the objects forming the shape..

Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on the shape of the environment (2004)
Journal Article
McGregor, A., Hayward, A., Pearce, J., & Good, M. (2004). Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on the shape of the environment. Behavioral Neuroscience, 118(5), 1011-1021. https://doi.org/10.1037/0735-7044.118.5.1011

Geometric information provided by the walls of an environment has a strong influence over hippocampal unit activity. This suggests that the hippocampus forms part of a cognitive mapping system that encodes geometric relationships between environmenta... Read More about Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on the shape of the environment.

Transfer of spatial behavior between different environments: Implications for theories of spatial learning and for the role of the hippocampus in spatial learning (2004)
Journal Article
Pearce, J., Good, M., Jones, P., & McGregor, A. (2004). Transfer of spatial behavior between different environments: Implications for theories of spatial learning and for the role of the hippocampus in spatial learning. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes, 30(2), 135-147. https://doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.30.2.135

In 3 experiments, rats were required to find a submerged platform located in 1 corner of an arena that had 2 long and 2 short sides; they were then trained to find the platform in a new arena that also had 2 long and 2 short sides but a different ove... Read More about Transfer of spatial behavior between different environments: Implications for theories of spatial learning and for the role of the hippocampus in spatial learning.