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At least 559 records · Page 31Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Stimulus control and associative learning.

Interest in operant research on stimulus control has declined at the same time that much interest has burgeoned in nonoperant areas. Several examples of this shift toward traditional learning theory are considered, all of which have sponsored theoretical approaches that attempt to characterize the underlying associative units. These theoretical approaches are defended on the grounds that they have generated a deeper understanding of a variety of often puzzling phenomena. My projection is that future research will be determined even more strongly by theories about the structure of associations. Particular issues for which such discussion will have major impact include (1) whether conditional stimulus control is qualitatively different than simpler forms of stimulus control, (2) whether stimulus control is organized hierarchically, and (3) the origin of categories of stimulus equivalence.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The relevance of the nature of learned associations for the differentiation of human memory systems.

In a previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study we demonstrated an involvement of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) during an implicit learning task. We concluded that the MTL was engaged because of the complex contingencies that were implicitly learned. In addition, the basal ganglia demonstrated effects of a paralleled proceduralization of fixed stimulus-response associations. In the present study we directly tested the hypothesis that the MTL activation depends upon implementing the complex regularity in task material, whereas activation of basal ganglia does not. Therefore, we rearranged task material such that it did not contain any complex regularity. The statistical comparison of behavioral and fMRI data between the materials allowed for isolating effects that were directly related to the implicit learning process regarding the complex regularity. The results showed a reliable difference of fMRI signal limited to the MTL, indicating a specific functional role of the MTL in implicit learning of complex contingencies. Furthermore, no difference of BOLD (Blood-Oxygenation Level Dependent) signal in the basal ganglia and cerebellum were detected, supporting the assumption of a functional involvement of the structures in proceduralization of simple stimulus-response associations but not in implicitly learning complex relations. We therefore conclude that the nature of the learned associations is relevant for determining the neuronal focus of learning, rather than the accompanying awareness.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Resistance to interference in human associative learning: evidence of configural processing.

In 4 experiments the authors used 2-stage designs to study susceptibility to interference in human discrimination learning. The experiments used a food allergy task. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with a discrimination in Stage 1 in which Food A predicted an allergy outcome (A-->O). In Stage 2, when combined with Food B, Food A predicted the absence of the allergy (B-->O, AB-->no O). In the test phase, Food A was found to have retained its Stage 1 association with the allergy despite the potentially interfering Stage 2 trials. In Experiment 2, a discrimination between 2 compounds (AB-->O, CD-->no O) remained intact despite subsequent complete reevaluation of the elements, (A-->no O, B-->no O, C-->O, D-->O); in Experiments 3 and 4, a discrimination between 2 pairs of elements (A-->O, B-->O, C-->no O, D-->no O) remained intact despite subsequent complete reevaluation of the AB and CD compounds, (AB-->no O, CD-->O). These experiments yielded evidence of remarkable resistance to interference in human discrimination learning. The results are at variance with the predictions of J. M. Pearce's (1987, 1994a) configural theory of associative learning.

Association Learning↗
PubMed1999

[On the validity of applying associative learning model to the acquisition process of human contingency judgment].

The assessment process of contingency between two binary events was examined in the present experiments using university students. Some researchers have obtained a learning curve in judging contingency and have thereby applied an associative model to an explanation of human contingency judgment. Other researchers, however, claimed that the task structure did not adequately reflect the structure of 2 x 2 contingency tables and failed to obtain learning curves. After having resolved methodological problems of task structure and procedure (Experiments 1 & 2), we demonstrated little evidence of learning curve in judging contingency (Experiment 3). These results were discussed in terms of associative viewpoints and rule-based models.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Serotonergic regulation of associative learning.

This paper presents a review of studies dealing with the effects of 5-HT agonists and antagonists on learning as measured by classical conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response or the conditioned avoidance response in the rat. These studies indicate that the 5-HT2A/2C receptors are importantly involved in learning. In these behavioral paradigms, enhancement of learning is only produced by drugs that are agonists at the 5-HT2A/2C receptors, and this enhancement is only blocked by drugs that are antagonists at these receptors. In addition, evidence is presented for the existence of two classes of 5-HT2A/2C antagonists consisting of negative antagonists that retard learning when given alone (ritanserin, MDL-11,939, pizotifen and cyproheptadine) and those that are neutral antagonists in that they have no effect on learning (ketanserin, mianserin, BOL and LY-53,857). However, both the neutral and negative antagonists are equally capable of blocking the enhancement of learning produced by 5-HT2A/2C agonists. It was concluded that 5-HT2A and/or 5-HT2C agonists may provide a new approach to the treatment of learning disorders in aging or Alzheimer's disease.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

The contribution of mediator-based deficiencies to age differences in associative learning.

Production, mediational, and utilization deficiencies, which describe how strategy use may contribute to developmental trends in episodic memory, have been intensively investigated. Using a mediator report-and-retrieval method, the authors present evidence concerning the degree to which 2 previously unexplored mediator-based deficits--retrieval and decoding deficiencies--account for age deficits in learning. During study, older and younger adults were instructed to use a strategy (imagery or sentence generation) to associate words within paired associates. They also reported each mediator and later attempted to retrieve each response and the mediator produced at study. Substantial deficits occurred in mediator recall, and small differences were observed in decoding mediators. Mediator recall also accounted for a substantial proportion of the age deficits in criterion recall independently of fluid or crystallized intelligence. Discussion focuses on mediator-based deficiencies and their implications for theories of age deficits in episodic memory.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A systems approach to the cellular analysis of associative learning in the pond snail Lymnaea.

We show that appetitive and aversive conditioning can be analyzed at the cellular level in the well-described neural circuitries underlying rhythmic feeding and respiration in the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. To relate electrical changes directly to behavior, the snails were first trained and the neural changes recorded at multiple sites in reduced preparations made from the same animals. Changes in neural activity following conditioning could be recorded at the level of motoneurons, central pattern generator interneurons and modulatory neurons. Of significant interest was recent work showing that neural correlates of long-term memory could be recorded in the feeding network following single-trial appetitive chemical conditioning. Available information on the synaptic connectivity and transmitter content of identified neurons within the Lymnaea circuits will allow further work on the synaptic and molecular mechanisms of learning and memory.

Animals↗