A case for restricted-domain relational learning

Monkeys and pigeons learned a same/different task with pairs that were selected from a training set of eight picture stimuli. They showed no novel-stimulus transfer and hence no abstract-concept learning. They were also tested with novel pairs of the eight training pictures (i.e., combinations that had not been used in training) and with inverted pictures of the training pairs. If the subjects had learned the task item-specifically (e.g., if—then or configural learning), they should have failed these tests, but they performed well with novel combinations of training pictures and inverted pictures, suggesting that they learned the task relationally (i.e., on the basis of the relationship between the two pictures that were presented in each trial). This somewhat paradoxical conclusion of relational learning in the absence of abstract-concept learning is contrary to most theories of abstract-concept learning. The implications of this conclusion are discussed in the context of restricted-domain relational learning.