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Behavioural Processes Mar 2008An enduring theme for theories of associative learning is the problem of explaining how configural discriminations--ones in which the significance of combinations of... (Review)
Review
An enduring theme for theories of associative learning is the problem of explaining how configural discriminations--ones in which the significance of combinations of cues is inconsistent with the significance of the individual cues themselves-are learned. One approach has been to assume that configurations are the basic representational form on which associative processes operate, another has tried in contrast to retain elementalism. We review evidence that human learning is representationally flexible in a way that challenges both configural and elemental theories. We describe research showing that task demands, prior experience, instructions, and stimulus properties all influence whether a particular problem is solved configurally or elementally. Lines of possible future theory development are discussed.
Topics: Adaptation, Psychological; Animals; Association Learning; Attention; Concept Formation; Discrimination, Psychological; Field Dependence-Independence; Humans; Mental Processes; Models, Psychological; Psychological Theory
PubMed: 18031954
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2007.09.013 -
Current Biology : CB May 2011Recent studies of the way animals learn challenge the idea that food learning relies mainly on how food tastes. Work on Drosophila has now shown that flies must ingest...
Recent studies of the way animals learn challenge the idea that food learning relies mainly on how food tastes. Work on Drosophila has now shown that flies must ingest food with a metabolic benefit to form a lasting memory for a learned odour.
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Carbohydrates; Discrimination, Psychological; Drosophila; Food; Memory; Nutritive Value; Odorants
PubMed: 21549945
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.03.055 -
Behavioural Processes Feb 2016Retrospective revaluation refers to an increase (or decrease) in responding to conditioned stimulus (CS X) as a result of decreasing (or increasing) the associative... (Review)
Review
Retrospective revaluation refers to an increase (or decrease) in responding to conditioned stimulus (CS X) as a result of decreasing (or increasing) the associative strength of another CS (A) with respect to the unconditioned stimulus (i.e., A-US) that was previously trained in compound with the target CS (e.g., AX-US or just AX). We discuss the conditions under which retrospective revaluation phenomena are most apt to be observed and their implications for various models of learning that are able to account for retrospective revaluation (e.g., Dickinson and Burke, 1996; Miller and Matzel, 1988; Van Hamme and Wasserman, 1994). Although retroactive revaluation is relatively parameter specific, it is seen to be a reliable phenomenon observed across many tasks and species. As it is not anticipated by many conventional models of learning (e.g., Rescorla and Wagner, 1972), it serves as a critical benchmark for evaluating traditional and newer models.
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Conditioning, Classical; Cues; Humans; Learning; Models, Psychological
PubMed: 26342855
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.09.001 -
Neuron Dec 1998
Review
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Brain; Cerebral Cortex; Models, Neurological; Nerve Net; Perception; Prefrontal Cortex; Primates
PubMed: 9883712
DOI: 10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80638-8 -
Journal of Vision Feb 2021The visual system can predict visual features across saccades based on learned transsaccadic associations between peripheral and foveal input. This has been shown for...
The visual system can predict visual features across saccades based on learned transsaccadic associations between peripheral and foveal input. This has been shown for simple visual features such as shape, size, and spatial frequency. The present study investigated whether transsaccadic predictions are also made for more complex visual stimuli. In an acquisition phase, new transsaccadic associations were established. In the first experiment, pictures of real-world objects changed category during the saccade (fruits were changed into balls or vice versa). In the second experiment, the gender of faces was manipulated during the saccade (faces changed from male to female or vice versa). In the following test phase, the stimuli were briefly presented in the periphery, and participants had to indicate which object or face, respectively, they had perceived. In both experiments, peripheral perception was biased toward the acquired associated foveal input. These results demonstrate that transsaccadic predictions are not limited to a small set of simple visual features but can also be made for more complex and realistic stimuli. Multiple new associations can be learned within a short time frame, and the resulting predictions appear to be object specific.
Topics: Adult; Association Learning; Female; Humans; Male; Photic Stimulation; Saccades; Visual Perception; Young Adult
PubMed: 33620379
DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.2.10 -
Animal Cognition Jan 2016In songbirds, early-life environments critically shape song development. Many studies have demonstrated that developmental stress impairs song learning and the...
In songbirds, early-life environments critically shape song development. Many studies have demonstrated that developmental stress impairs song learning and the development of song-control regions of the brain in males. However, song has evolved through signaller-receiver networks and the effect stress has on the ability to receive auditory signals is equally important, especially for females who use song as an indicator of mate quality. Female song preferences have been the metric used to evaluate how developmental stress affects auditory learning, but preferences are shaped by many non-cognitive factors and preclude the evaluation of auditory learning abilities in males. To determine whether developmental stress specifically affects auditory learning in both sexes, we subjected juvenile European starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, to either an ad libitum or an unpredictable food supply treatment from 35 to 115 days of age. In adulthood, we assessed learning of both auditory and visual discrimination tasks. Females reared in the experimental group were slower than females in the control group to acquire a relative frequency auditory task, and slower than their male counterparts to acquire an absolute frequency auditory task. There was no difference in auditory performance between treatment groups for males. However, on the colour association task, birds from the experimental group committed more errors per trial than control birds. There was no correlation in performance across the cognitive tasks. Developmental stress did not affect all cognitive processes equally across the sexes. Our results suggest that the male auditory system may be more robust to developmental stress than that of females.
Topics: Acoustic Stimulation; Animals; Association Learning; Color; Conditioning, Operant; Discrimination, Psychological; Female; Food Deprivation; Male; Sex Characteristics; Starlings; Stress, Physiological
PubMed: 26238792
DOI: 10.1007/s10071-015-0908-7 -
Bio Systems Aug 2021Although machines may be good at mimicking, they are not currently able, as organisms are, to act creatively. We offer an understanding of the emergent qualities of... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study Review
Although machines may be good at mimicking, they are not currently able, as organisms are, to act creatively. We offer an understanding of the emergent qualities of biological sign processing in terms of generalization, association, and encryption. We use slime mold as a model of minimal cognition and compare it to deep-learning video game bots, which some claim have evolved beyond their merely quantitative algorithms. We find that these discrete Turing machine bots are not able to make productive, yet unanticipated, "errors"-necessary for biological learning-which, based on the physicality of signs, their relatively similar shapes, and relative physical positions spatially and temporally, lead to emergent effects and make learning and evolution possible. In organisms, stochastic resonance at the local level can be leveraged for self-organization at the global level. We contrast all this to the symbolic processing of today's machine learning, whereby each logic node and memory state is discrete. Computer codes are produced by external operators, whereas biological symbols are evolved through an internal encryption process.
Topics: Algorithms; Animals; Artificial Intelligence; Association Learning; Deep Learning; Humans; Physarum polycephalum
PubMed: 33887351
DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2021.104430 -
Behavioural Processes May 2013Models of timing differ on two fundamental issues, the form of the representation and the content of learning. First, regarding the representation of time some models... (Review)
Review
Models of timing differ on two fundamental issues, the form of the representation and the content of learning. First, regarding the representation of time some models assume a linear encoding, others a logarithmic encoding. Second, regarding the content of learning cognitive models assume that the animal learns explicit representations of the intervals relevant to the task and that their behavior is based on a comparison of those representations, whereas associative models assume that the animal learns associations between its representations of time and responding, which then drive performance. In this paper, we show that some key empirical findings (timescale invariant psychometric curves, bisection point at the geometric mean of the trained durations in the bisection procedure, and location of the indifference point in the time-left procedure) seem to make these two issues interdependent. That is, cognitive models seem to entail a linear representation of time, and at least a certain class of associative models seem to entail a log representation of time. These interdependencies suggest new ways to compare and contrast timing models.
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Conditioning, Psychological; Learning; Models, Psychological; Signal Detection, Psychological; Time Factors
PubMed: 23470799
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2013.02.011 -
Biological Cybernetics Jun 2013Since the cell assembly (CA) was hypothesised, it has gained substantial support and is believed to be the neural basis of psychological concepts. A CA is a relatively... (Review)
Review
Since the cell assembly (CA) was hypothesised, it has gained substantial support and is believed to be the neural basis of psychological concepts. A CA is a relatively small set of connected neurons, that through neural firing can sustain activation without stimulus from outside the CA, and is formed by learning. Extensive evidence from multiple single unit recording and other techniques provides support for the existence of CAs that have these properties, and that their neurons also spike with some degree of synchrony. Since the evidence is so broad and deep, the review concludes that CAs are all but certain. A model of CAs is introduced that is informal, but is broad enough to include, e.g. synfire chains, without including, e.g. holographic reduced representation. CAs are found in most cortical areas and in some sub-cortical areas, they are involved in psychological tasks including categorisation, short-term memory and long-term memory, and are central to other tasks including working memory. There is currently insufficient evidence to conclude that CAs are the neural basis of all concepts. A range of models have been used to simulate CA behaviour including associative memory and more process- oriented tasks such as natural language parsing. Questions involving CAs, e.g. memory persistence, CAs' complex interactions with brain waves and learning, remain unanswered. CA research involves a wide range of disciplines including biology and psychology, and this paper reviews literature directly related to the CA, providing a basis of discussion for this interdisciplinary community on this important topic. Hopefully, this discussion will lead to more formal and accurate models of CAs that are better linked to neuropsychological data.
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Humans; Memory; Models, Neurological; Neurons
PubMed: 23559034
DOI: 10.1007/s00422-013-0555-5 -
The Anatomical Record Dec 2001The search for the biological basis of learning and memory has, until recently, been constrained by the limits of technology to classic anatomic and electrophysiologic... (Review)
Review
The search for the biological basis of learning and memory has, until recently, been constrained by the limits of technology to classic anatomic and electrophysiologic studies. With the advent of functional imaging, we have begun to delve into what, for many, was a "black box." We review several different types of imaging experiments, including steady state animal experiments that image the functional labeling of fixed tissues, and dynamic human studies based on functional imaging of the intact brain during learning. The data suggest that learning and memory involve a surprising conservation of mechanisms and the integrated networking of a number of structures and processes.
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Brain; Conditioning, Classical; Diagnostic Imaging; Humans; Memory
PubMed: 11753917
DOI: 10.1002/ar.10031