Discriminative stimulus properties of music in Java']Java sparrows

Seven adult Java sparrows were trained to discriminate music by Bach and that by Schoenberg. In the Bach S + group perching response was reinforced when piano music: by Bach was played but not when piano music by Schoenberg played. The Schoenberg S + group received reversed training. Five of seven birds reached the criterion. Novel orchestra music by Bach and that by Schoenberg were played in the first test after the discriminative training. They showed generalization to new music by Bach and Schoenberg. When Vivaldi and Carter were played in the second test, all five birds showed significant discrimination. Bach S + group responded to Vivaldi and Schoenberg S + group responded to Carter. Vivaldi and Bach belonged ts the same category, namely classical music, while Carter belongs to the modern music properties common to humans and birds. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.