The acquisition and extinction of a discrimination response as a function of reward and condition was investigated. Each S was assigned to one of four reward groups, under one of two conditions. The results indicated that magnitude and type of reward do not significantly affect acquisition performance of first-graders, though a differential hierarchy of reward preference is...
Rats with bilateral lesions in the caudate nucleus were found to exhibit perseverative response tendencies which interfere with performance on a delayed response tasko Evidence was obtained which suggests that the caudate lesioned Ss had “expectancies” about the correct response to be made despite their initial failure to express them in the testing situation.
In recalling a set of 12 structured letter pairs having either MN or PQ structure (where capital letters indicate a class of specific letters), Ss produced more intrusions of the types MQ and PN than expected by chance. This result appears to be contrary to the mediation theory of Jenkins & Palermo (1964) and is somewhat more consistent with Braine’s (1963) theory of position...
Ss learned paired CVCs using a modified study-test method. After presentation of pairs, two tests were given, where the second questioned about any natural language mediators (NLMs) Ss used to learn pairs. NLMs played an important role in learning correct responses. In addition, after the first correct recall items learned using NLMs were more often correct on later trials than...
Two pigeons were trained to make observing responses in a mixed FR FR schedule. Two responses to the observing key produced stimuli correlated with one or the other of the FRs. One of the FRs was then lowered to two to strengthen food behavior immediately after reinforcement.ne of the Ss showed a sizable drop in observing response output. The other pigeon’s observing response...
Four adolescent stumptail macaques were tested in a discrete-trials retractable-lever analogue of the double runway commonly used to study frustration effects in rats. Each trial consisted of fixed-ratio responding on a left lever followed by an identical contingency on a right lever. In agreement with runway data in rats, right-lever responses were faster following nonrein...
A modification of the Rock type experiment was executed with the expectation that the modifications would produce results at odds with those obtained by Rock. Controls for item selection effects were introduced, and Ss were not discarded for failure to meet criterion. Somewhat different methods of data analysis indicate that Ss learn less rapidly with error replacement (the Rock...
Seven rats received extended bar-pressing training on a VI schedule with 8% and 32% sucrose reinforcement. During days in which 32% and 8% alternated in 10-min. stimulus-correlated periods, response rate and speed of the first response were greater for 32% solution. The possible contribution to such results of reinforcement contrast is discussed.
Anxiety or stress was varied in two studies of verbal paired-associate learning, yielding within-Ss comparisons of performance on word pairs of different levels of interpair competition. While neither anxiety nor stress had a reliable effect on low-competition (high association) pairs, learning on high-competition (low initial association and high intrusion) pairs was reliably...
Implicitly associated A-C pairs were separated, randomized, and presented for one trial learning. The significant A-C clustering which occurred in recall and the selective importation of the middle link of the chain (B) offer evidence for the existence of implicit associative chains.
15 severely retarded Ss received 12 sessions of 4 12-trial object discrimination problems differentiated by the following procedures enforced during the first 6 trials only: a prompt (light cue in front of correct stimulus) appeared or did not, and an instrumental response was permitted or was not. Subsequent intraproblem performance indicated (1) significant learning when only...
Satiation treatment to competing responses did not improve learning of the competitional pairs but the same treatment to response members of the non-competitional pairs resulted in decreased learning of non-competitional pairs of a paired-associate task. It is suggested that satiation treatment results in generation of reactive inhibition but does not effect the semantic...
One hundred thirty-six human Ss participated in two differential eyelid conditioning experiments designed to demonstrate the inhibitory properties of intertriai stimuli. In Experiment I when the intertriai stimulus was a tone (IT) lying midway between CS+ and CS− on the auditory frequency dimension differentiation was enhanced compared with a group which received only noise...
Rock has suggested that recognition is facilitated when a form is oriented in conformity with the S’s phenomenal frame of reference. Establishing a phenomenal frame of reference by informing Ss of the exact orientation in which forms would appear did not, however, facilitate recognition in comparison with Ss informed merely that the forms would be disoriented.
Sixteen rats were given 96 continuous reinforcement (CRF) training trials to one stimulus and 96 partial reinforcement (PR) training trials to a second stimulus. These were followed by 40 extinction trials to each of the stimuli. Control groups (N = 6) were given either 96 CRF or 96 PR training trials, followed by 40 extinction trials. During extinction, a conventional partial...
Rats given different amount of acquisition training (200, 400, 800 or 1600 reinforcements) on a bar-pressing response and extinguished under varying degrees of stimulus change did not show any significantly different extinction curves from that of control Ss. Resistance to extinction and level of acquisition training was monotonically related in each extinction condition. However...
Chicks were first imprinted on one stimulus and then given equivalent training on a second stimulus. Preference tests were given either 0 or 24 hr. later. All were re-tested 96 hr. later. The 24 hr. group displayed a significant preference for the object on which they were first imprinted (primacy effect), which persisted to the 96 hr. re-test. The 0 hr. group displayed neither a...
Differential eyelid conditioning experiments were run to determine whether the use of “fading-in” and “shaping” procedures would result in the suppression of responses to CS-similar to that demonstrated by Terrace in the pigeon operant situation. Suppression of CR- and CR+ resulted when CS-was slowly “faded in” from the background; however, no decrement or enhancement of...
Probability learning to escape from shock was investigated in 36 female albino rats. The independent variable was the intensity of shock. All Ss were run in a T-maze using a correction procedure. One side of the T, (A1), was shock-free with probability, π =.667 while the other (A2) side was shock-free with probability (1 - π) =.333. The major findings were: (a) p(A1) exceeded π...
Patients who learned a story and a map design the night before, recalled less after ECT than those who learned the same material from 5 to 90 min. prior to ECT, or control Ss tested after a night but without ECT. Memory tended to be most intact with the shorter intervals between learning and shock. The results do not fit the consolidation theory, but can be reconciled with other...
Rats with insular lesions were deficient in adopting a passive-avoidance response. However, Ss with insular lesions did not differ from operated and normal control Ss in the acquisition of an active-avoidance response.
Forty five Ss recalled 6-consonant sequences immediately after letter by letter visual presentation. The main factor contributing to ease of recall was within-sequence acoustic confusability. Language habits were relatively unimportant. Single-letter language frequency was unrelated to recall; second order effects made a small but significant contribution.
Lists of stimulus items were constructed in such a way that successive presentations of items were always separated by 1 intervening item for one group of items and by 10 intervening items for another group. The S’s task was to decide whether he had seen each item before. The amount of forgetting which occurred between presentations was determined both for the short- and long...
A factorial experiment employed 40 rats in a 2-choice shock-escape situation. Reversal theta was nonsignificantly lower following amphetamine than saline, and significantly lower with a 180 sec. than with a 20 sec. intertriai interval. Since intertriai movements were more frequent with amphetamine and with the 180 sec. interval, it is suggested that the number of intertriai...
Pigeons received intermittent reinforcement for pecking at a vertical-line stimulus. Ss were then tested for generalization to other line orientations under one of the following conditions: (a) 20 min. of massed extinction to the vertical line, followed by a standard generalization test; (b) 20 min. of massed extinction to a horizontal line, followed by the generalization test...