Accounts of learning and generalization typically focus on factors related to lasting changes in representation (i.e., long-term memory). The authors present evidence that shorter term effects also play a critical role in determining performance and that these recency effects can be subdivided into perceptual and decisional components.…

Shows that pretraining affects cue selection and produces integration of the stimulus without affecting paired associate learning. Suggests that these findings might help to improve selection strategies of younger children in paired associate learning. (RL)

This investigation compares overt judgments about tenable hypotheses to choices in a concept identification task, as a function of stimulus similarity on successive trials. Two mathematical models are tested: (a) A 1-element local consistency version of Restle's concept identification model and (b) the same model with two additional passive states…

Trained preschoolers and adults on three sets of successive discriminations with stimuli labeled A, B, and R. Tested for derived stimulus-response relations and stimulus-stimulus relations. Adults displayed class-consistent B-R and A-B performances over all conditions. Children's display of class-consistent B-R performance varied by training…

One hundred twenty-eight preschool boys were subjects in a 4x2x2 factorial design to investigate the change in reinforcer efficacy as a function of prior stimulus exposure. The factors were: (1) amount of repetition, 5, 25, 45, or 65; (2) reinforcer, good or bell; and (3) satiator, good or bell. Two additional groups were run as control groups to…

The greater part of this paper is dedicated to a non-technical discussion and criticism of the principles of Skinnerian behaviorism. Various aspects of the theory are examined, and its inability to deal with verbal behavior as a productive and creative activity is asserted. The author's point of view is that expressed by Noam Chomsky in his…

Projects that soon a complete mechanistic understanding of simple forms of learning will be available. Describes some of the recent advances in neuroscience and psychology in understanding the changes in neural circuits that occur during certain behavioral situations. Suggests that learning involves the activation of second messenger systems. (TW)

There is no a priori basis for assuming that theories of social psychology are universal. For theories to be universal, the meaning of the stimulus would have to be consistent across cultures, but this cannot be taken for granted. Cross-cultural variations in social behavior may be "surface" expressions of deep structure norms that are universal.…

This study assesses the effects of visual and verbal rehearsal on the problem solving efficiency of preschool children. The study examines the use of stimulus pretraining designed to induce verbal rehearsal and compares the effectiveness of induced verbal rehearsal with the effectiveness of induced visual rehearsal. Fifty-four middle class…

In man-computer communication, the computer responds only as it is programed to respond. A human's response is more complicated because it depends on the "pre-programed" ways that humans process information. The three functions a man performs on received information are conservation (in which messages are retained whole), reduction (in which…

INTENDED FOR BOTH THE COLLEGE STUDENT AND THE PROFESSIONAL SPEECH PATHOLOGIST, THE BOOK PRESENTS CURRENT LEARNING THEORIES CONCERNING STUTTERING, DATA IMPORTANT TO THE THEORIES, AND A 2-PROCESS THEORY OF LEARNING FOR THEORETICAL INTEGRATION OF THE DATA ON STUTTERING AND FOR THERAPEUTIC MODIFICATION. INFORMATION PRESENTED ABOUT BEHAVIORISTIC…

While studies in learning and verbal behavior show that learning comes through paired-associate problems, they do not explain the acquisition of language. Three paradigms demonstrate mediation effect in paired-associate learning: response equivalence, stimulus equivalence, and chaining model. By reviewing children's language acquisition patterns…