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Behavioral Neuroscience Apr 2019Occasion setting refers to the ability of 1 stimulus, an occasion setter, to modulate the efficacy of the association between another, conditioned stimulus (CS) and an... (Review)
Review
Occasion setting refers to the ability of 1 stimulus, an occasion setter, to modulate the efficacy of the association between another, conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) or reinforcer. Occasion setters and simple CSs are readily distinguished. For example, occasion setters are relatively immune to extinction and counterconditioning, and their combination and transfer functions differ substantially from those of simple CSs. Similarly, the acquisition of occasion setting is favored when stimuli are separated by longer intervals, by empty trace intervals, and are of different modalities, whereas the opposite conditions typically favor the acquisition of simple associations. Furthermore, the simple conditioning and occasion setting properties of a single stimulus can be independent, for example, that stimulus may simultaneously predict the occurrence of a reinforcer and indicate that another stimulus will not be reinforced. Many behavioral phenomena that are intractable to simple associative analysis are better understood within an occasion setting framework. Besides capturing the distinction between direct and modulatory control common to many arenas in neuroscience, occasion setting provides a model for the hierarchical organization of memory for events and event relations, and for contextual control more broadly. Although early lesion studies further differentiated between occasion setting and simple conditioning functions, little is known about the neurobiology of occasion setting. Modern techniques for precise manipulation and monitoring of neuronal activity in multiple brain regions are ideally suited for disentangling contributions of simple conditioning and occasion setting in associative learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Animals; Association Learning; Basolateral Nuclear Complex; Brain; Conditioning, Psychological; Cues; Discrimination Learning; Extinction, Psychological; Humans; Models, Neurological; Models, Psychological; Motivation; Neural Pathways; Nucleus Accumbens; Prefrontal Cortex; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 30907616
DOI: 10.1037/bne0000306 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Dec 2016Reward-related cues are an important part of our daily life as they often influence and guide our actions. This paper reviews one of the experimental paradigms used to... (Review)
Review
Reward-related cues are an important part of our daily life as they often influence and guide our actions. This paper reviews one of the experimental paradigms used to study the effects of cues, the Pavlovian to Instrumental Transfer paradigm. In this paradigm, cues associated with rewards through Pavlovian conditioning alter motivation and choice of instrumental actions. The first transfer experiments date back to the 1940s, but only in the last decade has it been fully recognised that there are two types of transfer, specific and general. This paper presents a systematic review of both the neural substrates and the behavioral factors affecting both types of transfer. It also examines the recent application of the paradigm to study the effect of cues on human participants, both in normal and pathological conditions, and the interactions of transfer with drugs of abuse. Finally, the paper analyses the theoretical aspects of transfer to build an overall picture of the phenomenon, from early theories to recent hierarchical accounts.
Topics: Conditioning, Classical; Conditioning, Operant; Cues; Humans; Motivation; Reward; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 27693227
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.09.020 -
Journal of Vision Jan 2017What is new in perceptual learning? In the early days of research, specificity was the hallmark of perceptual learning; that is, improvements following training were...
What is new in perceptual learning? In the early days of research, specificity was the hallmark of perceptual learning; that is, improvements following training were limited to the trained stimulus features. For example, training with a stimulus improves performance for this stimulus but not for the same stimulus when rotated by 90° (Ball & Sekuler, 1987; Spang, Grimsen, Herzog, & Fahle, 2010). Because of this specificity, learning was thought to be mediated by neural changes at the early stages of vision. In the last decade, many procedures were discovered in which transfer occurs from trained to untrained conditions under certain conditions. The location of learning is now often thought to occur in higher stage of vision and decision-making. This special issue shows how the field has progressed along these lines.
Topics: Conditioning, Psychological; Humans; Learning; Transfer, Psychology; Visual Perception
PubMed: 28114502
DOI: 10.1167/17.1.23 -
Topics in Cognitive Science Jul 2017A central question in human development is how young children gain knowledge so fast. We propose that analogical generalization drives much of this early learning and...
A central question in human development is how young children gain knowledge so fast. We propose that analogical generalization drives much of this early learning and allows children to generate new abstractions from experience. In this paper, we review evidence for analogical generalization in both children and adults. We discuss how analogical processes interact with the child's changing knowledge base to predict the course of learning, from conservative to domain-general understanding. This line of research leads to challenges to existing assumptions about learning. It shows that (a) it is not enough to consider the distribution of examples given to learners; one must consider the processes learners are applying; (b) contrary to the general assumption, maximizing variability is not always the best route for maximizing generalization and transfer.
Topics: Child; Humans; Knowledge; Learning; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 28621480
DOI: 10.1111/tops.12278 -
Behavioural Processes Sep 2018A basic assumption of most researchers is that behavior is generally functional, and indeed, in most instances the function is obvious. But in a number of cases, some... (Review)
Review
A basic assumption of most researchers is that behavior is generally functional, and indeed, in most instances the function is obvious. But in a number of cases, some behaviors of neurophysiologically 'normal' organisms appear to be maladaptive. Considerable research has been conducted to understand the basis of such behavior as well as how the frequency of such behavior can be reduced. Here we provide a brief panoramic review of the major sources of maladaptive behavior in neurophysiologically 'normal' organisms: a) altered environmental contingencies relative to those faced by ancestral generations in their environment of evolutionary adaptation, b) altered environmental contingencies within the lifespan of the animal, c) linked behaviors in which the dysfunctional behavior is a linked companion of a more valuable beneficial trait, and d) the labeling of some behaviors as 'maladaptive' when more careful examination finds that they provide net benefit. Most of our attention is on the consequences of altered contingencies across and within a generation, with altered contingencies within a generation constituting a form of associative interference. The central issue in these two cases can be framed in terms of insufficient or excessive transfer of training resulting in maladaptive behavior. We discuss the functional basis of successful and unsuccessful near transfer (i.e., stimulus and response generalization) and far transfer (including rule learning and abstraction).
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Biological Evolution; Environment; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 29274378
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.12.017 -
Neuropsychobiology 2022A mechanism known as Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) describes a phenomenon by which the values of environmental cues acquired through Pavlovian conditioning... (Review)
Review
A mechanism known as Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) describes a phenomenon by which the values of environmental cues acquired through Pavlovian conditioning can motivate instrumental behavior. PIT may be one basic mechanism of action control that can characterize mental disorders on a dimensional level beyond current classification systems. Therefore, we review human PIT studies investigating subclinical and clinical mental syndromes. The literature prevails an inhomogeneous picture concerning PIT. While enhanced PIT effects seem to be present in non-substance-related disorders, overweight people, and most studies with AUD patients, no altered PIT effects were reported in tobacco use disorder and obesity. Regarding AUD and relapsing alcohol-dependent patients, there is mixed evidence of enhanced or no PIT effects. Additionally, there is evidence for aberrant corticostriatal activation and genetic risk, e.g., in association with high-risk alcohol consumption and relapse after alcohol detoxification. In patients with anorexia nervosa, stronger PIT effects elicited by low caloric stimuli were associated with increased disease severity. In patients with depression, enhanced aversive PIT effects and a loss of action-specificity associated with poorer treatment outcomes were reported. Schizophrenic patients showed disrupted specific but intact general PIT effects. Patients with chronic back pain showed reduced PIT effects. We provide possible reasons to understand heterogeneity in PIT effects within and across mental disorders. Further, we strengthen the importance of reliable experimental tasks and provide test-retest data of a PIT task showing moderate to good reliability. Finally, we point toward stress as a possible underlying factor that may explain stronger PIT effects in mental disorders, as there is some evidence that stress per se interacts with the impact of environmental cues on behavior by selectively increasing cue-triggered wanting. To conclude, we discuss the results of the literature review in the light of Research Domain Criteria, suggesting future studies that comprehensively assess PIT across psychopathological dimensions.
Topics: Humans; Conditioning, Operant; Transfer, Psychology; Reproducibility of Results; Conditioning, Classical; Cues; Mental Disorders; Recurrence
PubMed: 35843212
DOI: 10.1159/000525579 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Nov 2020Recent reviews yield contradictory findings regarding the efficacy of working memory training and transfer to untrained tasks. We reviewed working memory updating (WMU)... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
AIMS
Recent reviews yield contradictory findings regarding the efficacy of working memory training and transfer to untrained tasks. We reviewed working memory updating (WMU) training studies and examined cognitive and neural outcomes on training and transfer tasks.
METHODS
Database searches for adult brain imaging studies of WMU training were conducted. Training-induced neural changes were assessed qualitatively, and meta-analyses were performed on behavioural training and transfer effects.
RESULTS
A large behavioural training effect was found for WMU training groups compared to control groups. There was a moderate near transfer effect on tasks in the same cognitive domain, and a non-significant effect for far transfer to other cognitive domains. Functional neuroimaging changes for WMU training tasks revealed consistent frontoparietal activity decreases while both decreases and increases were found for subcortical regions.
CONCLUSIONS
WMU training promotes plasticity and has potential applications in optimizing interventions for neurological populations. Future research should focus on the mechanisms and factors underlying plasticity and generalisation of training gains.
Topics: Adult; Brain; Humans; Learning; Memory, Short-Term; Neuroimaging; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 32738262
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.07.027 -
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Oct 2022Prior research presents a mixed picture regarding the circumstances under which children transfer learning of problem solutions from fantastical stories to real-world...
Prior research presents a mixed picture regarding the circumstances under which children transfer learning of problem solutions from fantastical stories to real-world problems. Two experiments examined 3- to 5-year-old children's transfer of learning from fantastical storybooks that systematically varied in the fantastical abilities of storybook characters. In both experiments, participants heard stories about a character solving physical problems, and then participants attempted to solve analogous real-world problems. In Experiment 1, children heard stories that varied the fantastical abilities and practices of the protagonist; characters either did or did not have the ability to violate physical laws and did or did not use magic to help in solving a problem. Children were more likely to transfer problem solutions from the stories in which characters were presented as having the ability to violate real-world physical laws. In Experiment 2, the fantastical abilities of the characters varied by whether the characters were described as real, as pretend but living in a world where no physical laws could be violated, as pretend and living in a world where some physical laws could be violated, or as pretend and living in a world where many physical laws could be violated. Other than varying the characters' abilities, all characters used realistic solutions to solve the problem. Again, transfer was higher for children who heard about characters with the ability to violate real-world laws. The findings suggest that fantastical stories in which characters have the ability to do impossible things but use realistic solutions to problems can be effective in teaching children how to solve physical problems.
Topics: Child Development; Child, Preschool; Fantasy; Humans; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 35679778
DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105474 -
Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Feb 2012There is accumulating evidence that training working memory (WM) leads to beneficial effects in tasks that were not trained, but the mechanisms underlying this transfer... (Review)
Review
There is accumulating evidence that training working memory (WM) leads to beneficial effects in tasks that were not trained, but the mechanisms underlying this transfer remain elusive. Brain imaging can be a valuable method to gain insights into such mechanisms. Here, we discuss the impact of cognitive training on neural correlates with an emphasis on studies that implemented a WM intervention. We focus on changes in activation patterns, changes in resting state connectivity, changes in brain structure, and changes in the dopaminergic system. Our analysis of the existing literature reveals that there is currently no clear pattern of results that would single out a specific neural mechanism underlying training and transfer. We conclude that although brain imaging has provided us with information about the mechanisms of WM training, more research is needed to understand its neural impact.
Topics: Adult; Aged; Analysis of Variance; Brain; Cerebrovascular Circulation; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Memory, Short-Term; Neuronal Plasticity; Receptors, Dopamine; Transfer, Psychology; Young Adult
PubMed: 22682905
DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.10.001 -
Psychological Research Nov 2014Can cognitive abilities such as reasoning be improved through working memory training? This question is still highly controversial, with prior studies providing... (Review)
Review
Can cognitive abilities such as reasoning be improved through working memory training? This question is still highly controversial, with prior studies providing contradictory findings. The lack of theory-driven, systematic approaches and (occasionally serious) methodological shortcomings complicates this debate even more. This review suggests two general mechanisms mediating transfer effects that are (or are not) observed after working memory training: enhanced working memory capacity, enabling people to hold more items in working memory than before training, or enhanced efficiency using the working memory capacity available (e.g., using chunking strategies to remember more items correctly). We then highlight multiple factors that could influence these mechanisms of transfer and thus the success of training interventions. These factors include (1) the nature of the training regime (i.e., intensity, duration, and adaptivity of the training tasks) and, with it, the magnitude of improvements during training, and (2) individual differences in age, cognitive abilities, biological factors, and motivational and personality factors. Finally, we summarize the findings revealed by existing training studies for each of these factors, and thereby present a roadmap for accumulating further empirical evidence regarding the efficacy of working memory training in a systematic way.
Topics: Aging; Attention; Humans; Learning; Memory, Short-Term; Neuropsychological Tests; Transfer, Psychology
PubMed: 24213250
DOI: 10.1007/s00426-013-0524-6