Constant and variable irrelevant cues during intra- and extradimensional transfer

Experiment I compared constant (CI), variable-between (VBI), and variable-within (WVI) irrelevant cues during an extradimensional (ED) shift discrimination. Performance was better for CI than for VBI and better for VBI than for VWI. Experiment II combined CI, VBI, and VWI cues with ED or intradimensional (ID) shifts. Irrelevant-cue conditions did not affect ID performance but did affect ED performance. The typical superiority of ID, as compared to ED, shifts was observed in the VWI condition but not in the CI condition. Implications for mediating-response (i.e., attention or observing-response) theories were indicated.     

Artificial grammar learning in pigeons

In two experiments, we developed a new methodology for studying complex stimulus control by spatial sequences of letters generated by artificial grammars. An artificial grammar is a system of rules that defines which letter sequences or strings are “grammatical.” In Experiment 1, pigeons learned to respond differently to strings conforming to a grammar versus strings that were nongrammatical distortions. Several different criteria all suggested that performance was controlled both by some short chunks of strings shared between reinforced training strings and novel transfer strings and by more complex sequential regularities. In Experiment 2, pigeons quickly and accurately learned to respond differently to strings conforming to one or the other of two different artificial grammars. As in Experiment 1, performance was controlled both by some short chunks and by more complex sequential regularities. The results are interpreted in terms of family resemblance and pose new goals for theories of complex stimulus control.     

Cross-stimulus transfer of timing in pigeons

Pigeons were trained in a delayed matching task in which the samples were short (2 sec) and long (10 sec) presentations of either a houselight or a keylight. Transfer trials involved short and long presentations of the nontrained signal as the sample. In the intermittent transfer test, infrequent transfer trials were intermixed with more frequent training trials; in the sustained transfer test, all trials were transfer trials. The intermittent test revealed only weak transfer. The sustained test revealed transfer in Session 1 only in birds that had received pairings of the transfer signal and food prior to testing. However, regardless of whether the transfer signal had been previously paired with food, birds exposed to consistent contingencies between duration and choice across training and testing learned the transfer task more rapidly than did birds exposed to inconsistent contingencies. It was concluded that some training in which the transfer signal serves as the sample is required before the durations of a transfer signal are related to the rules associating duration and responding     

Stimulus selection in discriminative taste-aversion learning in the rat

In three experiments, rats were presented compound solutions consisting of a common element, saccharin, mixed with one of two different flavor elements, cinnamon and wintergreen. Rats in the experimental groups consistently received a toxicosis-inducing injection following one compound solution but not following the other compound solution. Rats in the control groups received toxicosis-inducing injections half the time following each of the compound solutions. After training in each experiment, there were tests for conditioning to the saccharin alone. The experimental groups drank significantly more than the control groups, indicating that the aversion to the partially reinforced saccharin in isolation was less when the different flavor cues were more highly correlated with reinforcement. In Experiment III, there was also a test for conditioning to the cinnamon or wintergreen flavor alone. The experimental group drank significantly less of the continuously reinforced flavor than the control group did of the partially reinforced flavor. These results are similar to those reported within more traditional conditioning paradigms.     

The nature of discrimination learning in pigeons

The results from five experiments are considered in relation to two of Spence's (1937, 1938) proposals concerning discrimination learning. In Experiments 1 and 2, we investigated whether his ideas about the interaction between excitatory and inhibitory generalization gradients can be used to understand how animals solve a complex patterning discrimination. The results supported a development of his proposals as put forward by Pearce (1994), provided a modification was made to Pearce's rulefor determining the shape ofthe generalization gradient. In Experiments 3, 4, and 5, we examined whether animals would pay more attention to stimuli that are relevant, rather than irrelevant, to the solution of a discrimination. The results supported this proposal for stimuli comprising visual patterns, but not for those comprising plain colors. The results also indicated that change of attention was a consequence of preliminary receptor-exposure acts, as envisaged by Spence, and not of more central changes in attention.     

Testing the translational-symmetry hypothesis of abstract-concept learning in pigeons

The translational-symmetry hypothesis of abstract-concept learning was tested in a same/different (S/D) task with pairs of pictures. The translational-symmetry hypothesis proposes that subjects discriminate same trials by the simultaneous repetition of features in the two pictures (and different trials by the lack of feature repetition). Pigeons that had learned a simultaneous S/D task were tested with delays between the two pictures to remove emergent perceptual cues. In Experiment 1, we tested delays of 0 and 1 sec. The results did not show the accuracy decrease expected according to the translational-symmetry hypothesis. In Experiment 2, we expanded the delays to 2 and 6 sec. Even at the longest delay, there was no evidence of the precipitous performance decline or default strategy that would be predicted by translational symmetry. The results provide evidence against translational symmetry (or other perceptually emergent features) that might control these pigeons’ performance in our two-item S/D task.     

Further experiments on probability learning in goldfish

The performance of goldfish in 70:30 and 50:50 visual and spatial problems was studied again under conditions like those employed in recent reversal experiments which provided the first unambiguous evidence of progressive improvement in goldfish. Random matching was found in the visual problems but not in the spatial problems, spatial choices proving rather insensitive to reinforcement ratio. The relation of random matching to the various other outcomes of such experiments is considered.     

Value transfer in concurrent-schedule discriminations by pigeons

When pigeons are trained on a discrete-trial simultaneous discrimination, some of the value associated with the positive stimulus appears to transfer to the negative stimulus (Zentall & Sherburne, 1994). Pigeons preferred a negative stimulus that had been discriminated from an always-positive stimulus (S+) over a negative stimulus that had been discriminated from a sometimes-positive stimulus (S±). A very different finding (suggestive of transitivity of preference or contrast) was reported by Belke (1992). On concurrent probe tests of stimuli associated with equal variable interval (VI) schedules but originally trained in alternative concurrent pairs (one with a richer schedule, the other with a poorer schedule—VI 20 sec vs. VI 40 sec and VI 40 sec vs. VI 80 sec), the stimulus originally paired with the poorer schedule was preferred. But Belke’s results may have been obtained because the pigeons had been trained to peck the VI 40 sec paired with the poorer schedule and they had been trained not to peck the VI 40 sec paired with the richer schedule. In the present experiment, we avoided this bias by training pigeons on two concurrent schedules in which the tested stimuli both had been associated with the poorer schedule of the pair [A(VI 20 sec) vs. B(VI 80 sec) and C(VI 40 sec) vs. D(VI 80 sec)]. Evidence for value transfer was demonstrated when on probe trials pigeons preferred B over D.     

Conditioned inhibition in feature negative discrimination learning with pigeons

Discrimination performance was investigated with pigeons using feature negative (FN) discrimination procedures which differed in the temporal arrangement of the stimuli on S? trials. In both procedures, a single common element was presented on reinforced (S+) trials. In thesimultaneous FN procedure, a distinguishing element was presented simultaneously with the common element of S? trials. In thesequential FN procedure, the distinguishing element preceded onset of the common element on S? trials. In two experiments, the sequential FN procedure yielded better discrimination performance. In Experiment 1, a summation test designed to separate learning and performance variables indicated that sequential FN subjects had learned the negative relationship between the distinguishing element and reinforcement while simultaneous FN subjects had not. In Experiment 2, summation and acquisition tests indicated that the distinguishing element developed inhibitory properties in the sequential FN procedure but not in the simultaneous FN procedure.     

Determinants of value transfer and contrast in simultaneous discriminations by pigeons

In a simultaneous discrimination involving a positive (S+) and a negative (S₋) stimulus, positive value appears to transfer from the S+ to the S₋. However, negative value does not appear to transfer from the S₋ to the S+. Instead, when sufficient experience with the contingencies associated with responding to the S₋ is provided, it appears that the presence of the S₋ enhances the value of the S+ (i.e., a contrast effect is found). The purpose of the present experiments was to further examine the influence of the S+ on the S₋ in a simultaneous discrimination (between subjects in Experiment 1 and within subjects in Experiment 2). In both experiments, we found that under typical training conditions, given little direct experience with the value of the S₋, value transfers from the S+ to the S₋. If sufficient experience with the value of the S₋ is provided, however, contrast between the S+ and the S₋ can be demonstrated. Thus, in a simultaneous discrimination, value transfer from the S+ to the S₋ depends on the animal’s having responded relatively little to the S₋.     

A theoretical interpretation of learning vs. Memorizing text

Learning and memory have been studied by researchers throughout psychological history, however similar tasks have been used to measure them. Dependence upon recall and recognition memory is a result of both the list learning tradition in psychology and the efficient and objective scoring for which they provide. Several studies are described which point out the differences between memory and learning and the shortcomings of using recall and recognition to measure both. Results regarding differential effects of independent variables on learning and memory are interpreted in terms of the van Dijk and Kintsch (1983) theory of text comprehension.     

Shock vs. ice-water passive avoidance learning in wild and domesticRattus norvegicus

Two experiments comparing passive avoidance responses of wild and domestic Norway rats included both shock and ice water as aversive stimuli. Experiment I indicated that wild rats did not exhibit passive avoidance in these situations and that shock was more effective than ice water as an aversive stimulus for domestic rats. Modifications of the ice-water apparatus in Experiment II resulted in improved passive responses in domestic rats, but ice water was still not as effective as shock. Wild rats again showed no passive avoidance. The results of these two experiments were interpreted in terms of stock differences in species-specific defense reactions for these avoidance situations.     

Difficult serial anticipation learning in rats: Rule-encoding vs. memory

Rats, trained in a runway, were asked to anticipate, while running slowly, the last two events in repeating series of .045-g food pellets. The series were either weakly monotonic (14, 5, 5, 1, and then 0 pellets/run) or nonmonotonic (5-5-14-1-0). While the terminal 0-pellet event was better anticipated in the weakly monotonic series, the reverse was the case for the next-to-last 1-pellet event. These findings were expected from a memory-discrimination learning hypothesis of serial learning, which suggests that the memory of one event in a series can be used to signal the next event. However, the better anticipation of the 1-pellet event by the nonmonotonic group was inconsistent with the recently stated rule-encoding position of Hulse (1980). According to that view, difficult series of the sort employed in the present investigation are learned by encoding the rule structure of the series, with events in the series with the simple rule structure (the weakly monotonic series in this investigation) being better anticipated than events in the series with the complex rule structure.     

Factors affecting conditional discrimination learning by pigeons: II. Physical and temporal characteristics of stimuli

Four experiments were performed to determine the stimulus characteristics that favor the development of conditional stimulus control in the single reversal paradigm with pigeon subjects. In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained on a successive discrimination between tone frequencies ranging from 350 to 3500 Hz in a particular houselight context condition (houselight-on or -off). The subjects then were trained on the reversal of the tone discrimination in the alternative context. Subsequent tone-frequency generalization testing in the two contexts indicated that they had failed to gain conditional control over the pigeons’ discriminative performance. Such control was obtained in Experiment 2, in which the two problems were alternated daily for 32 sessions of training. The gradients then peaked at the appropriate S+ value in each context. In Experiment 3, the key colors (blue vs. red) served as contexts while pigeons learned a successive discrimination in which the discriminative cues were houselight-on versus houselight-off conditions. This was followed by a reversal of the discrimination in the alternative key-color context condition. The key colors were effective conditional cues in this situation. In a previous experiment (Thomas, McKelvie, & Mah, 1985), key color had been ineffective as a conditional cue when the discriminative cues were lines superimposed on the colored background. In Experiment 4, key color was effective when the color and lines were presented on a single key as in the earlier experiment, but were sequenced such that the onset of the key color preceded and then overlapped the presentation of the lines. We concluded that conditional discriminations are easiest for pigeons when visual cues are used, but the conditional and discriminative cues must be presented in such a way that they do not combine to form a psychological compound.     

Fluid intelligence and discriminative operant learning of reinforcement contingencies in a fixed ratio 3 schedule

Although intelligence has traditionally been identified as the ability to learn (Peterson, 1925), this relationship has been questioned in simple operant learning tasks (Spielberger, 1962). Nevertheless, recent pieces of research have demonstrated a strong and significant correlation between associative learning measures and intelligence ( [Kaufman et al., 2009] and [Williams et al., 2008] ). The present paper aims to examine the relationship between intelligence and learning, complying with the experimental conditions of discriminative conditioning in a relatively complex free operant task. To that end, a sample of 1600 subjects applying for an ab initio Air Traffic Control training course was tested. The task is expected to allow identifying the specific influence of intelligence on the discrimination between stimulus dimensions. The results show how the relation among learning and intelligence strengthen on those trials which are critical in terms of discrimination.     

Interocular transfer in pigeons of color discrimination but not motor response training

Adult pigeons with one eye covered were trained to peck a response key using grain as a reinforcer. In subsequent tests, with the trained eye covered and the control eye open, the birds failed to peck the key. The subjects were then divided into two groups for a second experiment. The first group was trained on a single-key, peck/no-peck color discrimination task with the original control eye covered. When tested for interocular transfer of discrimination performance, these birds failed to respond at all. They were then trained to peck a blank response key with the training eye covered and the control eye open. Control-eye tests after this motor response training resulted in excellent transfer of color discrimination performance. The second group of subjects was trained to peck a blank key with first one eye covered and then the other, before monocular discrimination training was begun. These birds showed excellent transfer of discrimination performance during control-eye tests. These results show that, at least in the operant paradigm, motor response training does not transfer interocularly and this lack of transfer may interfere with transfer of discrimination performance.     

现代认知心理学视野中的学习迁移观

关于学习迁移的探讨历史长达约一个世纪 ,但是关于学习迁移的实质、学习迁移范围等的探讨至今还没有一个较为统一的观点。从现代认知心理学的视角重新审视学习迁移的基本理论 ,在三种认知理论的指导下 ,提出发现学习迁移的基本原则 ,这不仅有助于学习迁移的研究 ,而且对树立“为迁移而教”的教育理念亦有益处。     

浅谈学习迁移能力的培养

学习迁移对学习效果有着很大的影响.本文着重探讨如何培养学生的正迁移能力,克服负迁移的发生,使学生更快更好的掌握新的知识,提高自身的学习能力.     

Reinstatement of postresponse stimuli prior to reward in delayed-reward discrimination learning by pigeons

Delayed-reward learning in pigeons was examined using a simultaneous red-green visual discrimination task in which the conditions during the delay interval were varied between groups. The nondifferential group received training in which the stimulus present during the 1-min delay was the same following a peck on the correct and incorrect colors. The other three groups received 1-min delay training in which different stimuli occurred in the delay interval following correct and incorrect choices. The differential group received continuous, differential stimuli during the delay. The reinstatement group received the differential stimuli in the 10 sec immediately following the choice and during the last 10 sec of the delay. The reversedcue group was treated in the same way, except that the 10-sec delay stimulus immediately following an incorrect response was also presented for 10 sec prior to reward on correct choices, and the stimulus following a correct response also occurred 10 sec before nonreward on incorrect choices. Nondifferential birds failed to learn the discrimination, while differential and reinstatement birds learned it readily. The reversed-cue birds learned to choose the incorrect stimulus. Differential and reinstatement birds showed no decrement in performance when the delay was increased to 2 min. These findings suggest that similarity of prereward and postresponse delay stimuli controls choice responding in long-delay learning, a finding compatible with both memorial and conditioned reinforcement interpretations.