Abstract
According to established theories of attention (e.g., Mackintosh, 1975; Sutherland & Mackintosh, 1971), simple discriminations of the form AX+ BX- result in an increase in attention to stimuli A and B, which are relevant to the outcome that follows them, at the expense of X, which is irrelevant. Experiments that have apparently shown such changes in attention have failed to determine whether attention is enhanced to both A and B, which signal reinforcement and nonreinforcement, respectively, or just to A. In Experiments 1 and 2, pigeons were trained with a number of discriminations of the kind AX+ BX-, before compounds that had been consistently nonreinforced were involved in a subsequent discrimination. Both experiments provided support for theories that propose that more attention is paid to stimuli that consistently signal nonreinforcement than to irrelevant stimuli in simple discriminations.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Blanchard, R. (1975). The effect of S- on observing behavior. Learning & Motivation, 6, 1–10.
Dopson, J. C., Esber, G. R., & Pearce, J. M. (2010). Differences in the associability of relevant and irrelevant stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 36, 258–267.
Kirk, R. E. (1968). Experimental design: Procedures for the behavioral sciences. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Lawrence, D. H. (1949). Acquired distinctiveness of cues: I. Transfer between discriminations on the basis of familiarity with the stimulus. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 39, 770–784.
Le Pelley, M. E. (2004). The role of associative history in models of associative learning: A selective review and a hybrid model. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57B, 193–243.
Le Pelley, M. E., & McLaren, I. P. L. (2003). Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 56B, 68–79.
Lieberman, D. A. (1972). Secondary reinforcement and information as determinants of observing behavior in monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Learning & Motivation, 3, 341–358.
Mackintosh, N. J. (1975). A theory of attention: Variations in the associability of stimuli with reinforcement. Psychological Review, 82, 276–298.
Mackintosh, N. J., & Little, L. (1969). Intradimensional and extradimensional shift learning by pigeons. Psychonomic Science, 14, 5–6.
Mueller, K. L., & Dinsmoor, J. A. (1984). Testing the reinforcing properties of S—: A replication of Lieberman’s procedure. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 41, 17–25.
Pearce, J. M. (1987). A model of stimulus generalization for Pavlovian conditioning. Psychological Review, 94, 61–73.
Pearce, J. M. (1994). Similarity and discrimination: A selective review and a connectionist model. Psychological Review, 101, 587–607.
Pearce, J. M., Esber, G. R., George, D. N., & Haselgrove, M. (2008). The nature of discrimination learning in pigeons. Learning & Behavior, 36, 188–199.
Pearce, J. M., George, D. N., & Redhead, E. S. (1998). The role of attention in the solution of conditional discriminations. In N. A. Schmajuk & P. C. Holland (Eds.), Occasion setting: Associative learning and cognition in animals (pp. 249–275). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Pearce, J. M., & Hall, G. (1980). A model for Pavlovian learning: Variations in the effectiveness of conditioned but not of unconditioned stimuli. Psychological Review, 87, 532–552.
Pearce, J. M., & Kaye, H. (1985). Strength of the orienting response during inhibitory conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 11, 405–420.
Pearce, J. M., & Mackintosh, N. J. (2010). Two theories of attention: A review and a possible integration. In C. J. Mitchell & M. E. Le Pelley (Eds.), Attention and associative learning: From brain to behaviour (pp. 11–39). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rescorla, R. A. (2000). Associative changes in excitors and inhibitors differ when they are conditioned in compound. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 26, 428–438.
Rescorla, R. A. (2001). Unequal associative changes when excitors and neutral stimuli are conditioned in compound. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 54B, 53–68.
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.
Spence, K. W. (1940). Continuous versus non-continuous interpretations of discrimination learning. Psychological Review, 47, 271–288.
Sutherland, N. S., & Mackintosh, N. J. (1971). Mechanisms of animal discrimination learning. New York: Academic Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by a grant and a studentship from the U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dopson, J.C., Williams, N.A., Esber, G.R. et al. Stimuli that signal the absence of reinforcement are paid more attention than are irrelevant stimuli. Learning & Behavior 38, 337–347 (2010). https://doi.org/10.3758/LB.38.4.337
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/LB.38.4.337