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Current Opinion in Neurobiology Apr 1993Cognitive processes have been increasingly implicated in Pavlovian conditioning. Research in the past year has focused on questions of stimulus selection and the... (Review)
Review
Cognitive processes have been increasingly implicated in Pavlovian conditioning. Research in the past year has focused on questions of stimulus selection and the internal representation of events and the relations between them. Recent data support negative feedback models of selection that assume conditioning-dependent changes in processing of conditioned and unconditioned stimulus events, and suggest potential neural mechanisms that may underlie these processes. New models of conditioning propose a more detailed representation of individual conditioning episodes than traditionally assumed. The results of investigations into conditional discrimination learning imply a hierarchical organization of event representations, and illustrate the importance of conditioned modulatory processes as distinct from response elicitation.
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Cognition; Conditioning, Classical; Models, Psychological
PubMed: 8513236
DOI: 10.1016/0959-4388(93)90215-k -
Behavioural Processes May 2013Learning in conditioning protocols has long been thought to depend on temporal contiguity between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. This... (Review)
Review
Learning in conditioning protocols has long been thought to depend on temporal contiguity between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus. This conceptualization has led to a preponderance of associative models of conditioning. We suggest that trial-based associative models that posit contiguity as the primary principle underlying learning are flawed, and provide a brief review of an alternative, information theoretic approach to conditioning. The information that a CS conveys about the timing of the next US can be derived from the temporal parameters of a conditioning protocol. According to this view, a CS will support conditioned responding if, and only if, it reduces uncertainty about the timing of the next US.
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Conditioning, Psychological; Learning; Models, Psychological; Time Factors
PubMed: 23384660
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2013.01.005 -
Behavioral Neuroscience Jun 2024This article explores the contribution of the double error dynamic asymptote computational associative learning model to understanding the role of mediated learning...
This article explores the contribution of the double error dynamic asymptote computational associative learning model to understanding the role of mediated learning mechanisms in the generation of spurious associations, as those postulated to characterize schizophrenia. Three sets of simulations for mediated conditioning, mediated extinction, and a mediated enhancement of latent inhibition, a unique model prediction, are presented. For each set of simulations, a parameter that modulates the impact of associative memory retrieval and the dissipation of nonperceptual activated representations through the network was manipulated. The effect of this operation is analyzed and compared to ketamine-induced effects on associative memories and mediated learning. The model's potential to predict these effects and present a plausible error-correction associative mechanism is discussed in the context of animal models of schizophrenia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Ketamine; Humans; Association Learning; Schizophrenia; Computer Simulation; Extinction, Psychological; Animals; Conditioning, Classical
PubMed: 38635181
DOI: 10.1037/bne0000591 -
Canadian Journal of Experimental... Sep 2020It has been hypothesised that some specialised cognitive abilities may have evolved because of the challenges of living in complex social environments. Therefore,... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
It has been hypothesised that some specialised cognitive abilities may have evolved because of the challenges of living in complex social environments. Therefore, more-social species might be able to learn faster than less-social species. The aim of this study was to develop a learning framework to test how more- and less-social Lamprologine cichlid fishes perform across associative learning tasks. These cichlids are a group of closely related species with similar ecologies and life histories but varying degrees of sociality, making them an ideal group for comparative learning studies. We found that three nongrouping cichlids (Telmatochromis temporalis, Lamprologus meleagris, and Neolamprologus tretocephalus) outperformed three closely related highly social, cooperatively breeding cichlids (N. pulcher, N. multifasciatus, and Julidochromis dickfeldi) on an associative learning task based on food rewards. However, we hypothesised that these differences may be caused by the social environment during testing and might not reflect true cognitive differences. Indeed, when we drilled down and compared just two species across four different social conditions, we found that the social environment during learning trials affected the performance of the highly social N. pulcher and the less-social T. temporalis differently. We then performed further experiments with both N. pulcher and T. temporalis under more natural social settings. Under these more natural social conditions, we found that N. pulcher learned to differentiate accessible and inaccessible shelters faster than T. temporalis. These findings highlight the potential for expanding comparative experiments investigating the relationship between sociality and cognition and emphasise the crucial role social environment plays in learning outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Behavior, Animal; Cichlids; Social Behavior; Social Environment; Social Learning; Species Specificity
PubMed: 33090852
DOI: 10.1037/cep0000236 -
Psychological Review Apr 1997This study presents a dynamic model of how animals learn to regulate their behavior under time-based reinforcement schedules. The model assumes a serial activation of...
This study presents a dynamic model of how animals learn to regulate their behavior under time-based reinforcement schedules. The model assumes a serial activation of behavioral states during the interreinforcement interval, an associative process linking the states with the operant response, and a rule mapping the activation of the states and their associative strength onto response rate or probability. The model fits data sets from fixed-interval schedules, the peak procedure, mixed fixed-interval schedules, and the bisection of temporal intervals. The major difficulties of the model came from experiments that suggest that under some conditions animals may time 2 intervals independently and simultaneously.
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Conditioning, Operant; Models, Psychological; Periodicity; Probability; Reinforcement Schedule; Time Factors
PubMed: 9127582
DOI: 10.1037/0033-295x.104.2.241 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Jul 2020The model elaborated here adapts the influential pooled error term, first described by Wagner and Rescorla (Rescorla & Wagner, 1972; Wagner & Rescorla, 1972), to govern...
The model elaborated here adapts the influential pooled error term, first described by Wagner and Rescorla (Rescorla & Wagner, 1972; Wagner & Rescorla, 1972), to govern the formation of reciprocal associations between any pair of stimuli that are presented on a given trial. In the context of Pavlovian conditioning, these stimuli include various conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. This elaboration enables the model to deal with cue competition phenomena, including the relative validity effect, and evidence implicating separate error terms and attentional processes in association formation. The model also includes a performance rule, which provides a natural basis for (individual) variation in the strength and nature of conditioned behaviors that are observed in Pavlovian conditioning procedures. The new model thereby begins to address theoretical and empirical issues that were apparent when the Rescorla-Wagner model was first described, together with research inspired by the model over the ensuing 50 years. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Behavior, Animal; Conditioning, Classical; Individuality; Models, Psychological; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 32730077
DOI: 10.1037/xan0000239 -
Journal of Experimental Psychology.... Oct 2022One of the many strengths of the Rescorla and Wagner (1972) model is that it accounts for both excitatory and inhibitory learning using a single error-correction...
One of the many strengths of the Rescorla and Wagner (1972) model is that it accounts for both excitatory and inhibitory learning using a single error-correction mechanism. However, it makes the counterintuitive prediction that nonreinforced presentations of an inhibitory stimulus will lead to extinction of its inhibitory properties. Zimmer-Hart and Rescorla (1974) provided the first of several animal conditioning studies that contradicted this prediction. However, the human data are more mixed. Accordingly, we set out to test whether extinction of an inhibitor occurs in human causal learning after simultaneous feature negative training with a conventional unidirectional outcome. In 2 experiments with substantial sample sizes, we found no evidence of extinction after presentations of the inhibitory stimulus alone in either a summation test or causal ratings. By contrast, 2 "no-modulation" procedures that contradicted the original training contingencies successfully reversed inhibition. These results did not differ substantially as a function of participants' self-reported causal structures (configural/modulation/prevention). We hypothesize that inhibitory learning may be intrinsically modulatory, analogous to negative occasion-setting, even with simultaneous training. This hypothesis would explain why inhibition is reversed by manipulations that contradict modulation but not by simple extinction, as well as other properties of inhibitory learning such as imperfect transfer to another excitor. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Animals; Extinction, Psychological; Learning; Inhibition, Psychological; Conditioning, Classical; Association Learning
PubMed: 35653727
DOI: 10.1037/xan0000328 -
Memory & Cognition Nov 2017The ability to create temporary binding representations of information from different sources in working memory has recently been found to relate to the development of...
The ability to create temporary binding representations of information from different sources in working memory has recently been found to relate to the development of monolingual word recognition in children. The current study explored this possible relationship in an adult word-learning context. We assessed whether the relationship between cross-modal working memory binding and lexical development would be observed in the learning of associations between unfamiliar spoken words and their semantic referents, and whether it would vary across experimental conditions in first- and second-language word learning. A group of English monolinguals were recruited to learn 24 spoken disyllable Mandarin Chinese words in association with either familiar or novel objects as semantic referents. They also took a working memory task in which their ability to temporarily bind auditory-verbal and visual information was measured. Participants' performance on this task was uniquely linked to their learning and retention of words for both novel objects and for familiar objects. This suggests that, at least for spoken language, cross-modal working memory binding might play a similar role in second language-like (i.e., learning new words for familiar objects) and in more native-like situations (i.e., learning new words for novel objects). Our findings provide new evidence for the role of cross-modal working memory binding in L1 word learning and further indicate that early stages of picture-based word learning in L2 might rely on similar cognitive processes as in L1.
Topics: Adult; Association Learning; Humans; Memory, Short-Term; Multilingualism; Psycholinguistics
PubMed: 28748447
DOI: 10.3758/s13421-017-0731-2 -
Psychological Science Jan 2012How do humans learn contingencies between events? Both pathway-strengthening and inference-based process models have been proposed to explain contingency learning. We...
How do humans learn contingencies between events? Both pathway-strengthening and inference-based process models have been proposed to explain contingency learning. We propose that each of these processes is used in different conditions. Participants viewed displays that contained single or paired objects and learned which displays were usually followed by the appearance of a dot. Some participants predicted whether the dot would appear before seeing the outcome, whereas other participants were required to respond quickly if the dot appeared shortly after the display. In the prediction task, instructions guiding participants to infer which objects caused the dot to appear were necessary in order for contingencies associated with one object to influence participants' predictions about the object with which it had been paired. In the response task, contingencies associated with one object affected responses to its pair mate irrespective of whether or not participants were given causal instructions. Our results challenge single-mechanism accounts of contingency learning and suggest that the mechanisms underlying performance in the two tasks are distinct.
Topics: Association Learning; Cues; Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time
PubMed: 22198929
DOI: 10.1177/0956797611429577 -
Neuron Apr 1998
Review
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Biofeedback, Psychology; Brain; Conditioning, Classical; Electroshock; Fear; Models, Neurological; Models, Psychological
PubMed: 9581755
DOI: 10.1016/s0896-6273(00)81002-8