Negative patterning is easier than a biconditional discrimination.

When multiple cues are presented in compound and trained to predict an outcome, the cues may compete for association with an outcome. However, if both cues are necessary for solution of the discrimination, then competition might be expected to interfere with the solution of the discrimination. We consider how unequal stimulus salience influences learning in configural discriminations, where no individual stimulus predicts the outcome. We compared two hypotheses: (1) salience modulation minimises the initial imbalance in salience and (2) unequal stimulus salience will impair acquisition of configural discriminations. We assessed the effect of varying stimulus salience in a biconditional discrimination (AX+, AY−, BX−, BY+). Across two experiments, we found stronger discrimination when stimuli had matched, rather than mismatched, salience, supporting our second hypothesis. We discuss the implications of this finding for Mackintosh’s model of selective attention, modified elemental models and configural models of learning.

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Permanent damage or temporary silencing of retrosplenial cortex impairs the expression of a negative patterning discrimination

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory ◽

10.1016/j.nlm.2019.107033 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 163 ◽

pp. 107033

Author(s):

Danielle I. Fournier ◽

Travis P. Todd ◽

David J. Bucci

Keyword(s):

Retrosplenial Cortex ◽

Permanent Damage ◽

Negative Patterning

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The Effects of using Stimuli from Three Different Dimensions on Autoshaping with a Complex Negative Patterning Discrimination

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B ◽

10.1080/02724990244000061 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 55 (4b) ◽

pp. 349-364 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

John M. Pearce ◽

David N. George

Keyword(s):

One Dimension ◽

Negative Patterning ◽

Configural Theory ◽

Different Dimensions ◽

Third Dimension ◽

The Individual ◽

Positive Patterning

In two experiments pigeons received a complex negative patterning discrimination, using autoshaping, in which food was made available after three stimuli if they were presented alone (A, B, C), or in pairs (AB, AC, BC), but not when they were all presented together (ABC). Subjects also received a positive patterning discrimination in which three additional stimuli were not followed by food when presented alone (D, E, F), or in pairs (DE, DF, EF), but they were followed by food when presented together (DEF). Stimuli A and D belonged to one dimension, B and E to a second dimension, and D and F to a third dimension. For both problems, the discrimination between the individual stimuli and the triple-element compounds developed more readily than that between the pairs of stimuli and the triple-element compound. The results are consistent with predictions that can be derived from a configural theory of conditioning.

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Erratum to: Changes in attention to an irrelevant cue that accompanies a negative patterning discrimination

Learning & Behavior ◽

10.3758/s13420-011-0061-3 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 40 (1) ◽

pp. 115-115

Author(s):

Jemma C. Dopson ◽

Guillem R. Esber ◽

John M. Pearce

Keyword(s):

Negative Patterning

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The Interaction between Discriminative Stimuli and Outcomes during Instrumental Learning

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B ◽

10.1080/02724990244000223 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 56 (1b) ◽

pp. 127-139 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Anthony Dickinson ◽

Sanne de Wit

Keyword(s):

Sucrose Solution ◽

Food Pellet ◽

Instrumental Learning ◽

The Other ◽

Food Type ◽

Instrumental Performance ◽

Stimulus Function ◽

Associative Structures ◽

Congruent Group ◽

Biconditional Discrimination

Rats were trained on a biconditional discrimination in which the delivery of a food pellet stimulus signalled that pressing on one of two levers would be reinforced, whereas the delivery of a sucrose solution stimulus signalled that the reward was contingent on pressing the other lever. The outcome was the same food type as the discriminative stimulus in the congruent group but the other food type in the incongruent group. Both responses were rewarded with the same outcome in the same group. All the three groups learned the discrimination at statistically indistinguishable rates. Prefeeding one of the outcomes selectively reduced the associated response thereby demonstrating that responding was mediated by a representation of the outcome. Moreover, the outcome of one trial controlled responding on the next trial in accord with the stimulus function of the food type. These results are discussed in relation to the associative structures mediating the discriminative control of instrumental performance.

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