Table 2 Overview of the sessions’ sequence, procedure and criteria for successful graduation.
Session | Phase | Procedure | Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Habituation | 10 food rewards placed inside arena | Eating within 10 min |
2 | Habituation | Food reward placed 10 times in front of the 2-box apparatus (hatch open) | Eating within 10 min |
3 | Habituation | Food reward placed 10 times inside random compartment (hatch open) | Putting head through hole to reach food, finding baited compartment, (eating within 10 min) |
4 | Habituation | Food reward placed 10 times inside one compartment (hatch closed) | Putting head through hatch to reach food, finding baited compartment, (eating within 10 min) |
5 | Habituation | 10 food rewards placed in front of the mirror | Eating within 10 min |
6 | Habituation | Mirror + 2-box apparatus, 10 times food reward placed in random compartment (hatch closed) | Putting head through hatch to reach food, finding baited compartment (eating within 10 min.) |
7 | Training 1 | Mirror + 2-box apparatus, 10 times food reward placed in random compartment | Finding baited compartment, eating 10 food rewards |
8 | Training 2 | Mirror + 2-box apparatus, 10 times food reward placed in random compartment | Finding baited compartment, eating 10 food rewards |
9 | Training 3 | Mirror + 2-box apparatus, 10 times food reward placed in random compartment | Finding baited compartment, eating 10 food rewards |
10 | Control with non-reflective surface | Non-reflective surface, 2 × 5 min., first right then left compartment baited | Extracting reward within 2 min |
11+ | Test sessions | Mirror + 4-box apparatus, 10 trials, food reward placed in compartment pseudo-randomly out of the bird’s view | Finding baited compartment, eating within 10 min |
