Attention During Discrimination Learning

1. Attention During Discrimination Learning

2. Attention During Discrimination Learning If a bird reinforced (S+) for responding to a red circle but not reinforced (S-) for responding to a blue circle performs at near 100% accuracy, what did the bird learn?

3. A cognitive-behavioral explanation One possibility is that the bird: • First, learns to direct its attention to the relevant dimension (color predicts reinforcement) • Second, responds only to the color that is reinforced. This cognitive-behavioral explanation infers a two-step process where the first step is an attentional mechanism and the second step is learned performance through positive reinforcement.

4. A behavioral explanation Another possibility is that the birds: • simply learn to respond to all the stimulus characteristics of S+ and not to respond to all the stimulus characteristics of S- This mechanistic explanation describes a one-step process where responding is strengthened in the presence of a red circle (S+) but not in the presence of a blue circle (S-).

5. Transfer of Training One way to determine if attentional mechanisms occur in discrimination learning as suggested by the cognitive-behavioral account is to conduct transfer of training studies.

6. Transfer of Training Two groups of birds are trained on a discrimination task using stimuli that vary along two dimensions. One group is reinforced for accurate performance on one dimension and the other group is reinforced for accurate performance on the other dimension. View the next few slides to determine the relevant dimensions for each group.

7. GROUP 1: What is the relevant stimulus dimension? Reinforced Reinforced Not Reinforced Not Reinforced

8. Group 1: What is the relevant stimulus dimension? Reinforced Reinforced Not Reinforced Not Reinforced

9. The Relevant Dimension is Color. Group 1: Color Relevant Not Reinforced Reinforced Reinforced Not Reinforced

10. Group 2: What is the relevant stimulus dimension? Reinforced Reinforced Not Reinforced Not Reinforced

11. Group 2: What is the relevant stimulus dimension? Reinforced Reinforced Not Reinforced Not Reinforced

12. The Relevant Dimension is Shape. Group 2: Shape Relevant Not Reinforced Reinforced Reinforced Not Reinforced

13. - + - + Shifting to New Stimuli Next, both groups are shifted to the new stimuli shown here. + responding is reinforced - responding is not reinforced The next slide summarizes the overall design

14. - + Group 1: color relevant G - - + + R - - + + Group 2: shape relevant - + Representative Stimuli Used in Intradimensional (ID) and Extradimensional (ED) Shifts Training Objects Testing Objects Intradimensional Shift (ID) Extradimensional Shift (ED) For subjects in the ID-shift group, the correct objects during both training and testing can be identified by their color. For subjects in the ED-shift group, the relevant dimension is shape during training, but color during testing.

15. Question The main dependent variable in the test phase of this experiment is the rate of learning to discriminate the new stimuli. The cognitive-behavioral theory and the behavioral theory provide different predictions. Identify and explain the predictions of these two theories. That is, for both theories identify which group, if any, should learn the discrimination task faster. Explain the predictions.