How Associability Is Defined As The Links And Connections Made Between A Stimuli And A Response

A concept is defined as a set of critical properties shared among a number of stimuli. Stimulus equivalence is expressed as: If A=B, and B=C, then

B.F. Skinner’s theory of Operant Conditioning has at its foundation a desire to demonstrate a “cause and

It was therefore hypothesised that the reaction times for global judgments would be faster than the reaction times of local judgments. It was also hypothesised that consistent stimuli would be faster than conflicting stimuli in the local tasks.

In the presented review, I aim to critically discuss this paper. I start with criticising Mackintosh’s approach of treating cognitive and associative processes as two distinct. Then, I examine Mackintosh’s point of view on animal learning. I conclude that Machintosh’s (1997) main claim about the importance of the associative learning is supported by subsequent research. Nevertheless, it is important not to neglect either associative, or cognitive approach, because they are not fundamentally different, and, at least in humans, both of them play a significant role.

Overall more experiments need to be conducted to be able to generalize this idea and turn it into a fact. And other factors such as past stimulations, the amount of stimulus and the experiment conditions need to be more thoroughly explained to be able to rely on the validity of these

Early studies have widely researched attention with selective processing (Driver, 2001). Broadbent (1958) filter theory of attention states that certain information does not require focal attention. It is based on certain stimulus attributes such as colour and shape (Friedenberg, 2012). A previous study carried out by Treisman and Schmidt (1982) proposes that when attention is diverted from a display of several figures, the participants incorrectly combine the features of colour and shape therefore increases the illusory conjunctions portrayed by the participants (Tsal, 1989). Another study by Shaw (1978) found that reaction time of participant to identify targets varied with the probability that a target would appear in a particular display location. These results indicate that different amounts of attention towards the targets are distributed to different positions in the visual field. However, Houck and Hoffman (1986) found that the feature integration of colour and orientation can sometimes be accomplished without attention (James et al.,

Elsner and Hommel (2004), test the hypothesis that learning of relationships between actions and perceptual consequences is accomplished by using associative learning. Stage one of the studies on action-affect learning, required participants to respond to arrows with key presses that were followed by a distractor tone at a period of either 50, 1000, or 2000ms. In stage two, respondents were required to respond to the previously irrelevant tone. Condition one highlights consistencies between tone-key press relationships and the learning phase. Whereas the other condition portrays inconsistencies. In terms of contiguity, they concluded that temporal contiguity is an important mechanism in both animal and human associative learning, (Elsner &Hommel, 2004). However, they argue that relying solely on contiguity would not obtain valid results – supporting Rescorla’s argument that contiguity is not sufficient enough in explaining associative learning. Although, Rescorla concludes that contiguity is not an adequate explanation of associative learning, more modern research suggests it is a collaborative factor. Elsner and Hommel (2004) conclude that action-effect acquisition is dependent on temporal proximity of action and effect on the contingency or frequency of their co-occurrence.

Classical conditioning is the theory that involves a subject learning a new behavior by the process of association. A naturally occuring stimulus (the unconditioned stimulus) is paired with a response (the unconditioned response). Then, a neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) is paired with the unconditioned stimulus and eventually the conditioned stimulus produces the initial response of the unconditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus being present. The response, therefore, becomes the conditioned response. This study had a major influence on the psychological study of behaviorism. “Behaviorism is based on the assumption that learning occurs through interactions with the environment” (Cherry 1). Classical conditioning

With generalization, we are conditioned to respond a certain way to a certain stimulus, however slightly altering the stimuli does still elicit a similar response, although it might be weaker than the original conditioned stimulus (Pearce, 1987; Rescorla, 2006). Other experiments showed how behavior can be modified and selected for by offering a reward (Thorndike, 1898; Skinner, 1938, 1953). This shows that our minds are hardwired to find patterns and how our responses can be automatic without much conscious thought, which exemplifies the lack of free-will. The Little Albert study also shows how emotional responses can be elicited through classical conditioning (Watson & Rayner,

The cue competition effects blocking and overshadowing are at the heart of the associative account of causal judgements (Shanks, 2007).

Marcus, Nolen, Rankin, and Carew (1988) conducted a series of experiments to address the debate over the dual-process view of nonassociative learning. The dual-process view of nonassociative learning relies on the relationship between a decreasing process producing habituation and an increasing process that allows dishabituation and sensitization to occur. Habituation is a decrease in response due to repeated stimulation. On the other hand, sensitization is an increase in response due to repeated stimulation. Dishabituation is the elicitation of a habituated response after a dishabituating stimulus is presented. Marcus et al. (1988) developed the multiprocess view of nonassociative learning as an alternative to the dual-process view. Using

Associative activation is ideas that can spread other ideas in your brain. When you hear a word your brain starts recalling memories of this word which in return will produce reactions, both of physical and mental awareness of this word. This is called associatively coherence, which means that an idea will make you have a sense of something because it fits with the associations that we already made around a certain product. It is here that we are learning that not only do we think with our brain but when our bodies react to an idea, it is also thinking as well. Ideas form links in the brain that are called associative memory, each idea is linked to many others, such as: Virus will be linked to a cold (which is called an effects link); Lime will be linked to green (which is demonstrated as a properties link); Banana will be linked to fruit (which is also known as a categories link). An idea that has been activated does not merely evoke one idea or reaction; it activates many which in turn activate others.

Two of the different theories that can account for behavioral contrast include behavioral reallocation hypothesis and reinforcer habituation/satiation hypothesis. Behavioral reallocation hypothesis understands that the subject will respond slower to the changing component while being able to respond faster with renewed energy to the consistent component. This is

Research carried out on attention has mainly been associated with the selective processing of incoming sensory information. It proposes, to some degree, our awareness of the world depends on what we choose to focus on and not simply the stimulation received by our senses. Attention is often linked to a filter that screens out most potential stimuli whilst allowing a select few to pass through into our conscious awareness, however, a great deal of debate has been devoted to where the filter is situated in the information processing chain (Martindale, 1991). Psychologists have made extensive contributions to this subject matter in the past century. Notable examples include Donald Broadbent's filter theory of attention (1958), which set the

Research by Loose et al in 2003 state that in our natural environment, the aptitude to divide attention is vital since we attend concomitantly to a number of sensory modalities like visual and auditory stimuli. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to study brain activation while a divided attention task was performed. Directing attention towards one modality increased the activity in the corresponding primary and secondary sensory area. When attention is divided between both modalities, the activation in the sensory areas is diminished, possibly due to a limited capacity of the system for controlled processing. This study helped explain Kahneman’s limited capacity model and Treisman attenuation model of attention by showing that depending on the task, the transmissions in the brain occur