An extended comparator hypothesis account of superconditioning

Three conditioned taste aversion experiments with rats investigated superconditioning. In each experiment, alternate exposures of 2 flavor compounds with a common element (i.e., AB/AS) were administered to establish an inhibitory relationship between the 2 unique elements, B and S, and prior to testing, S was paired with lithium chloride (LiCl). In Experiment 1, pairings of a neutral cue (X) with S in compound with B after the AB/AS exposures resulted in superconditioning between X and S. Extinction of the common element (A) just before the S-LiCl pairing attenuated both the inhibitory relationship between B and S (Experiment 2) and superconditioning between X and S (Experiment 3). These observations suggest that superconditioning consists of enhanced performance rather than enhanced associative acquisition.     

Instruction-in-Interaction: The Teaching and Learning of a Manual Skill

This study takes an interest in instructions and instructed actions in the context of manual skills. The analysis focuses on a video recorded episode where a teacher demonstrates how to crochet chain stitches, requests a group of students to reproduce her actions, and then repeatedly corrects the attempts of one of the students. The initial request, and the students’ responses to it, could be seen as preliminary to the series of corrective sequences that come next: the request and the following attempts make it possible for the teacher to launch instructional sequences specifically designed and addressed to the students who need further guidance. In the interaction between the teacher and the novice student, the reasoned character of the instructed actions is not explained so much as installed and tuned. The materiality of the project makes it possible for the two parties to methodically and meticulously adjust their actions in accordance with each other, and towards the gradual realization of the aimed-for results. In connection to this, a number of issues pertaining to the reproducibility and recognizability of manual skills are raised: how instructions-in-interaction orient towards the progression of the skill rather than the interaction itself; how attempts by and mistakes of the instructed party provide grounds for further instruction; and, consequently, how instructions in the form of corrections build on the instructor’s continuous assessments of the instructed actions.     

Development of the 24-h rest-activity pattern in human infants

The development of the 24-h rest-activity pattern was investigated in human infants under naturalistic conditions as assessed by continuous actigraphy. Seven infants and their mothers were recorded for 4 (n=1), 6 (n=5) and 12 months (n=1) after birth. Periodogram analysis of rest-activity data was performed over consecutive 10-day intervals. A weak 24-h rest-activity pattern was already present in some infants during the newborn period. The magnitude of the 24-h component in individual periodograms increased across the first months following a saturating function. The time constants of fitted saturating exponential functions--reflecting the rate of development of the 24-h pattern--ranged from 49 to 110 days (n=6) indicating a large interindividual variability. Furthermore, intraindividual variation was observed; the magnitude of the 24-h rest-activity component showed fluctuations around the trend. Miniaturized actigraphs are ideal tools for long-term longitudinal monitoring of rest-activity behavior in infants.     

Zum Problem der methodischen Zugänglichkeit frühkindlicher Formwahrnehmung: Eine Antwort an Rüssel

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Some determinants of latent inhibition in human predictive learning

The present experiments assessed the effects of different manipulations between cue preexposure and cue-outcome pairings on latent inhibition (LI) in a predictive learning task with human participants. To facilitate LI, preexposure and acquisition with the target cues took place while participants performed a secondary task. Presentation of neither the target cues nor the target outcome was anticipated based on the instructions. Experiment 1 demonstrated the LI effect in the new experimental preparation. Experiment 2 analyzed the impact on LI of different activities that participants performed during the interval between preexposure and acquisition. Experiment 3 assessed LI as a function of changes in the secondary task cues made between preexposure and acquisition, namely presenting novel cues and reversing the cue-outcome contingencies. All of the manipulations in Experiments 2 and 3 resulted in a decrease in LI. The attenuation of LI by these manipulations challenges most current theories of learning and is best accommodated by Conditioned Attention Theory (Lubow, Weiner, & Schnur, 1981).     

Second-order conditioning during a compound extinction treatment

Two conditioned taste aversion experiments with rats were conducted to establish if a target taste that had received a prior pairing with illness could be subject to second-order conditioning during extinction treatment in compound with a flavor that also received prior conditioning. In these experiments, the occurrence of second-order conditioning was indicated by protection from extinction of the aversion elicited by the target taste. This possibility, although intuitive, deserves attention because current associative models [e.g., Rescorla, R. A., & Wagner, A. R. (1972). A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. In A. H. Black & W. F. Prokasy (Eds.), Classical conditioning II: Current research and theory (pp. 64-99). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.] predict exactly the opposite outcome, namely, that compound extinction of two CSs should result in enhanced extinction.     

Versuche über visuelle Formwahrnehmung im Säuglingsalter

Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Untersuchung beschäftigt sich mit dem frühkind lichen Wahrnehmungskontakt in dem der Greifperiode vorausgehenden Lebensabschnitt dominierender visueller Aktivität (Lebensalter von 10 bis 13 Wochen): es soll der Einfluß von Formmerkmalen der Reizgebilde auf den Blickkontakt der Säuglinge festgestellt werden. Dafür erscheint die Methode des bevorzugten Anblickens besonders geeignet (§ 1). Es wurden verschiedene Figurformen zu 16 Figurenpaaren zusammengestellt (Abb. 1–4) und an zwölf Säuglingen dadurch verglichen, daß in wiederholten Versuchen ermittelt wurde, an welcher Figur des simultan dargebotenen Paares der Blick bevorzugt haften blieb (§ 3). Dabei konnte für den Blickkontakt der Säuglinge ein Einfluß von Formmerkmalen der Einzelfiguren festgestellt werden, der unabhängig von Flächengröße und Konturenlänge der Reizfiguren besteht (§ 4, 1). Die pauschale Frage, ob kompliziertere oder einfachere Formen bevorzugt angeblickt werden (§ 2), erwies sich als inadäquat für die Analyse der Untersuchungsergebnisse (§ 4, 2). Setzt man bestimmte Hypothesen axiomatisch voraus, so lassen sich die Befunde verwenden, um in den Wahrnehmungsgegebenheiten dieser Säuglinge wirksame Strukturmerkmale zu erkunden (§ 5). Als solche werden in vergleichender Analyse der Untersuchungsergebnisse erschlossen: 1. Mehrheitlichkeit, Geteiltheit des Gegebenen und 2. Erstrecktheit, Länglichkeit bzw. Geballtheit, kompakte Massiertheit des Gegebenen (§ 6). Interindividuelle Unterschiede hinsichtlich ihres Gegebenseins oder Fehlens treten dabei nicht auf für die Strukturmomente der Mehrheitlichkeit, wohl aber für die Strukturmomente der Erstrecktheit bzw. Geballtheit (§ 7). An diesen Befund anschließend wird die Hypothese aufgestellt, daß die frühkindlichen Wahrnehmungsstrukturen in folgender lebensgeschichtlichen Zeitreihe erworben werden: bloße Figur-Grund-Abhebung — Mehrheitlichkeit und Aufgeteiltheit abgehobener Gebilde — Erstrecktheit bzw. Geballtheit abgehobener Gebilde.