The findings of Shepard, Hovland, and Jenkins (1961) on the relative ease of learning 6 elemental types of 2-way classifications have been deeply influential 2 times over: 1st, as a rebuke to pure stimulus generalization accounts, and again as the leading benchmark for evaluating formal models of human category learning. The litmus test for models…

This paper presents the empirical basis for the phenomena known as stimulus overselectivity. Stimulus overselectivity involves responding on the basis of a restricted range of elements or features that are discriminative for reinforcement. The manner in which such a response pattern impedes the skill acquisition in children is identified. A…

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.…