How do children learn to communicate, and what do they learn? Traditionally, most theories have taken an associative, compositional approach to these questions, supposing children acquire an inventory of form-meaning associations, and procedures for composing / decomposing them; into / from messages in production and comprehension. This paper…

Interleaving examples of to-be-learned categories, rather than blocking examples by category, frequently enhances category induction. The presently dominant theory is that interleaving promotes discriminative-contrast, and suggests that category similarity structure modulates this interleaving benefit: that blocking should benefit learning when…

Two experiments tested whether a peak-shifted generalization gradient could be explained by the averaging of distinct gradients displayed in subgroups reporting different generalization rules. Across experiments using a causal judgment task (Experiment 1) and a fear conditioning paradigm (Experiment 2), we found a close concordance between…

A robust finding in humans and animals is that intermixed exposure to 2 similar stimuli (AX/BX) results in better discriminability of those stimuli on test than does exposure to 2 equally similar stimuli in 2 separate blocks (CX_DX)--the intermixed-blocked effect. This intermixed-blocked effect may be an example of the superiority of spaced over…

Efficiency was compared between three procedures for sequencing examples with minimal stimulus variation between adjacent positive and negative examples: dynamic, static, and static with maximal differences between pairs. For young children, increasing relevant feature saliency and altering a single stimulus to generate examples reduced training…

Examines the influences of behaviorist psychology on performance and instruction technologies. The basic assumptions of behaviorism are outlined, reinforcing contingencies are reviewed, conditioning is described, and such specific topics as stimulus control, behavior chaining, and successive approximation are discussed. (Author/JL)

This paper considers the unique and successful combination of using Direct Instruction programs with special education populations. The introduction establishes the need for valid, scientifically based materials. Next is a description of studies using Direct Instruction with students who have high-incidence disabilities. Thirty-seven studies were…

Stimulus discrimination is a standard subject in undergraduate courses presenting basic principles of learning, and a particularly interesting aspect of discrimination is the peak shift phenomenon. Peak shift occurs in generalization tests following intradimensional discrimination training as a displacement of peak responding away from the S+ (a…

Three experiments tested the application to art of an hypothesis from the concept attainment literature, that conceptual learning is enhanced by providing multiple examples prior to test trials. Subjects were given discrimination tasks involving surrealistic and non-surrealistic paintings. The feature abstraction model proved inadequate in this…

Performance of 5 students (ages 8 and 10) with moderate intellectual disability was compared as they received the DISTAR Arithmetic instructional intervention and a Discrimination Learning Theory (DLT) intervention not requiring a fast-paced verbal student response. Academic engagement and skill mastery were greater during the DLT intervention.…

Describes the theoretical backgrounds and empirical findings of three experimental studies in which computer-based response-sensitive strategies were investigated using concept learning tasks. The strategy applied focused on discrimination learning, generalization learning, and classification skill development in concept learning. A general…

The process of forming operator schemata was studied in three experiments. In each experiment a greater amount of predictive information in a stimulus item increased the chance of selecting the operator accurately.