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Convergent results in eyeblink conditioning and contingency learning in humans: addition of a common cue does not affect feature-negative discriminations

Convergent results in eyeblink conditioning and contingency learning in humans: addition of a common cue does not affect feature-negative discriminations
Convergent results in eyeblink conditioning and contingency learning in humans: addition of a common cue does not affect feature-negative discriminations
Previous human discrimination learning experiments with eyeblink conditioning showed that an increase in the similarity between the to-be-discriminated stimuli had no effect on the rate of learning. This result was at variance with data from other experiments which had used different paradigms and different stimulus materials. We therefore compared human discrimination learning in eyeblink conditioning and contingency learning using carefully matched procedures. Participants learned two feature-negative discriminations, A+/AB? and CD+/CDE?. Convergent results were obtained in both paradigms. Adding a common cue did not affect response differentiation, i.e. the A+/AB? discrimination and the CD+/CDE? discriminations were equivalent. These results support the notion that learning in both paradigms is based on the same principles. However, the overall pattern of results cannot be easily accommodated within associative learning theories based on the Rescorla–Wagner Model or on Pearce's Configural Model. The application of these models to current and previous data is discussed.
eyeblink conditioning, associative learning, contingency learning
0301-0511
207-212
Thorwart, Anna
742f480e-777b-4bd3-90d5-43d041fa589c
Glautier, Steven
964468b2-3ad7-40cc-b4be-e35c7dee518f
Lachnit, Harald
40ae45e8-9eda-4445-9570-f519b1e29f74
Thorwart, Anna
742f480e-777b-4bd3-90d5-43d041fa589c
Glautier, Steven
964468b2-3ad7-40cc-b4be-e35c7dee518f
Lachnit, Harald
40ae45e8-9eda-4445-9570-f519b1e29f74

Thorwart, Anna, Glautier, Steven and Lachnit, Harald (2010) Convergent results in eyeblink conditioning and contingency learning in humans: addition of a common cue does not affect feature-negative discriminations. Biological Psychology, 85 (2), 207-212. (doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.07.002). (PMID:20638441)

Record type: Article

Abstract

Previous human discrimination learning experiments with eyeblink conditioning showed that an increase in the similarity between the to-be-discriminated stimuli had no effect on the rate of learning. This result was at variance with data from other experiments which had used different paradigms and different stimulus materials. We therefore compared human discrimination learning in eyeblink conditioning and contingency learning using carefully matched procedures. Participants learned two feature-negative discriminations, A+/AB? and CD+/CDE?. Convergent results were obtained in both paradigms. Adding a common cue did not affect response differentiation, i.e. the A+/AB? discrimination and the CD+/CDE? discriminations were equivalent. These results support the notion that learning in both paradigms is based on the same principles. However, the overall pattern of results cannot be easily accommodated within associative learning theories based on the Rescorla–Wagner Model or on Pearce's Configural Model. The application of these models to current and previous data is discussed.

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More information

Published date: October 2010
Keywords: eyeblink conditioning, associative learning, contingency learning

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Local EPrints ID: 182291
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/182291
ISSN: 0301-0511
PURE UUID: e96fdd1d-6491-4c44-8a2c-da8eab8efb7a
ORCID for Steven Glautier: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8852-3268

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Date deposited: 27 Apr 2011 10:53
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:58

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Contributors

Author: Anna Thorwart
Author: Steven Glautier ORCID iD
Author: Harald Lachnit

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