Effects of category learning strategies on recognition memory

To define the combined effects of drug and alcohol abuse on verbal learning and memory, 70 alcoholic and 80 polysubstance abuse (PSA) individuals with concurrent alcohol abuse were compared on a list learning task, the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Despite demonstrating similar learning strategies, response styles, and error patterns, the PSA group nonetheless exhibited significantly greater recall deficits than the alcoholic group on the CVLT. These deficits were particularly evident in those who were heaviest abusers of cocaine. PSA participants did not, however, evidence greater recognition memory deficits. This pattern of greater deficits on recall than on recognition memory, as well as poor consolidation, is consistent with the initiation–retrieval difficulties of patient groups with subcortical dysfunction. It is concluded that the combined use of alcohol and drugs, cocaine in particular, may compound memory difficulties beyond what is typically observed in alcoholic individuals. (JINS, 1998, 4, 319–328.)

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Stress Elevates Frontal Midline Theta in Feedback-based Category Learning of Exceptions

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_01241 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 799-813 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Marcus Paul ◽

Marie-Christin Fellner ◽

Gerd T. Waldhauser ◽

John Paul Minda ◽

Nikolai Axmacher ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Learning Strategies ◽

Category Learning ◽

Acute Stress ◽

Cold Pressor Test ◽

Cold Pressor ◽

Control Procedure ◽

Feedback Processing ◽

Theta Power ◽

Frontal Midline Theta ◽

Category Knowledge

Adapting behavior based on category knowledge is a fundamental cognitive function, which can be achieved via different learning strategies relying on different systems in the brain. Whereas the learning of typical category members has been linked to implicit, prototype abstraction learning, which relies predominantly on prefrontal areas, the learning of exceptions is associated with explicit, exemplar-based learning, which has been linked to the hippocampus. Stress is known to foster implicit learning strategies at the expense of explicit learning. Procedural, prefrontal learning and cognitive control processes are reflected in frontal midline theta (4–8 Hz) oscillations during feedback processing. In the current study, we examined the effect of acute stress on feedback-based category learning of typical category members and exceptions and the oscillatory correlates of feedback processing in the EEG. A computational modeling procedure was applied to estimate the use of abstraction and exemplar strategies during category learning. We tested healthy, male participants who underwent either the socially evaluated cold pressor test or a nonstressful control procedure before they learned to categorize typical members and exceptions based on feedback. The groups did not differ significantly in their categorization accuracy or use of categorization strategies. In the EEG, however, stressed participants revealed elevated theta power specifically during the learning of exceptions, whereas the theta power during the learning of typical members did not differ between the groups. Elevated frontal theta power may reflect an increased involvement of medial prefrontal areas in the learning of exceptions under stress.

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Schematic Influences on Category Learning and Recognition Memory

10.1007/springerreference_301909 ◽

2012 ◽

Keyword(s):

Recognition Memory ◽

Category Learning

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Metacognitive awareness and use of effective learning strategies in concept and category learning

The Korean Journal of Educational Psychology ◽

10.17286/kjep.2021.35.1.01 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 1-25

Author(s):

Hyorim Ha ◽

Sejin Kim ◽

Yewon Kang ◽

Hee Seung Lee

Keyword(s):

Learning Strategies ◽

Category Learning ◽

Metacognitive Awareness ◽

Effective Learning

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Task variations and attention shifts in young children’s category learning

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1080/01650250344000118 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 27 (6) ◽

pp. 495-504 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ruth M. Ford

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Recognition Memory ◽

Category Learning ◽

Category Membership ◽

Intentional Learning ◽

Assessment Task ◽

Category Formation ◽

Single Category ◽

Attention Shifts

Two studies examined the conditions under which 6-year-old children succeeded in discovering prototypical information within ill-defined categories for fictitious animals that had salient individuating properties. Following either incidental or intentional learning of a single category, children attended to both prototypical and instance-specific features when judging the category membership of new examples (Experiment 1). When the same category was contrasted with a similar category in a sorting-with-feedback procedure, children relied on prototypical features in categorisation despite the fact that instance-specific features dominated their recognition-memory judgements (Experiment 2). The results show young children to be capable of shifting their attention to different kinds of category attributes according to the conditions of category formation and the nature of the assessment task.

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Schematic Influences on Category Learning and Recognition Memory.

Journal of Experimental Psychology General ◽

10.1037/0096-3445.133.4.534 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 133 (4) ◽

pp. 534-553 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Yasuaki Sakamoto ◽

Bradley C. Love

Keyword(s):

Recognition Memory ◽

Category Learning

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Separate neural dynamics underlying the acquisition of different auditory category structures

10.1101/2021.01.25.428107 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gangyi Feng ◽

Zhenzhong Gan ◽

Han Gyol Yi ◽

Shawn W. Ell ◽

Casey L. Roark ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Learning Strategies ◽

Category Learning ◽

Information Integration ◽

Background Noise ◽

Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽

Learning Task ◽

Neural Dynamics ◽

Neural Systems ◽

Auditory Learning ◽

Neural Representations

AbstractCurrent models of auditory category learning argue for a rigid specialization of hierarchically organized regions that are fine-tuned to extracting and mapping acoustic dimensions to categories. We test a competing hypothesis: the neural dynamics of emerging auditory representations are driven by category structures and learning strategies. We designed a category learning experiment where two groups of learners learned novel auditory categories with identical dimensions but differing category structures: rule-based (RB) and information-integration (II) based categories. Despite similar learning accuracies, strategies and cortico-striatal systems processing feedback differed across structures. Emergent neural representations of category information within an auditory frontotemporal pathway exclusively for the II learning task. In contrast, the RB task yielded neural representations within distributed regions involved in cognitive control that emerged at different time-points of learning. Our results demonstrate that learners’ neural systems are flexible and show distinct spatiotemporal patterns that are not dimension-specific but reflect underlying category structures.SignificanceWhether it is an alarm signifying danger or the characteristics of background noise, humans are capable of rapid auditory learning. Extant models posit that novel auditory representations emerge in the superior temporal gyrus, a region specialized for extracting behaviorally relevant auditory dimensions and transformed onto decisions via the dorsal auditory stream. Using a computational cognitive neuroscience approach, we offer an alternative viewpoint: emergent auditory representations are highly flexible, showing distinct spatial and temporal trajectories that reflect different category structures.

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