Pigeons

Jeremy Narby writes, “pigeons appear to be brighter than many people suspect. One recent experiment demonstrated that pigeons can tell the difference between paintings by Van Gogh and Chagall. The birds received training in which they were rewarded for pecking at paintings by Van Gogh but discouraged from choosing Chagalls. Then they were shown previously unseen works by both painters. The pigeons as a whole performed almost as well as a parallel group of university students majoring in psychology.”

That speaks for itself, but I wonder what kinds of incentives the psych students were given to choose Van Gogh.