Noncontingent stimulation, stimulus familiarization, and subsequent learning in young infants

2 experiments assessed the effects of prior noncontingent or familiarization experience on subsequent operant conditioning (kick-produced mobile movement) in young infants. In Experiment 1, infants received either long- or short-term noncontingent exposure to their own rotating mobile or simply viewed this mobile for several days while it remained motionless. In Experiment 2, long-term exposure was provided by the same novel mobile used for subsequent training. In both experiments, prior noncontingent experience did not interfere with subsequent conditioning. In Experiment 2, however, simple long-term familiarization with the training mobile precluded "evidence" of learning. The results indicated that infants develop expectancies regarding how stimuli occurring in particular contexts should behave based on their prior experiences with these stimuli.