Dissertations / Theses: 'Reinforcement (Psychology) Discrimination learning'

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Guerrero, Luis Fernando. "Disruption of conditional discrimination and its effects on equivalence /." abstract and full text PDF (free order & download UNR users only), 2005. http://0-wwwlib.umi.com.innopac.library.unr.edu/dissertations/fullcit/3198197.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005.
"May 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-72). Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2005]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

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Delgado, Diana. "Subsitution of stimulus functions as a means to distinguish among different types of functional classes /." abstract and full text PDF (free order & download UNR users only), 2005. http://0-wwwlib.umi.com.innopac.library.unr.edu/dissertations/fullcit/1430443.

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Thesis (M.A.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005.
"May, 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-49). Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2005]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

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Koelker, Rachel Lee Ellis Janet. "Comparing a discriminative stimulus procedure to a pairing procedure conditioning neutral social stimuli to function as conditioned reinforcers /." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12143.

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Stancato, Stefanie S. "On the Further Exploration of Interactions between Equivalence Classes and Analytic Units." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2016. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc849665/.

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Sidman's (2000) theory of stimulus equivalence predicts an interaction between the development of analytic units and the development of equivalence relations. Previous research has documented these interactions (stewart, Barnes-Holmes, Roche, & Smeets, 2002; Vaidya & Brackney, 2014), therefore the current study attempted to replicate the effects seen in Vaidya & Brackney, 2014 (Experiment 2). Baseline conditional discriminations were trained for two sets of three, three-member classes, while participants simply observed stimuli in the third set which was arranged identical to those of Sets 1 and 2. Following equivalence tests where performance met the accuracy criterion of 85% for Sets 1 and 2, participants then entered a simple successive discrimination training phase where common responses were then trained with an equivalence class (pressing the Q key in the presence of A1, B1, or C1), cross equivalence classes (pressing the R key in the presence of A4, A5, or A6), or for stimuli where the participants had experience with them, but the contingencies were never arranged to facilitate equivalence class formation. Results showed a facilitative effect for common responses drawn from within equivalence classes (Set 1), and a retardation effect for common responses drawn from across equivalence classes (Set 2), for three of the five participants. Results for Set 3 showed an acquisition that fell intermediate to that of Sets 1 and 2, respectively, suggesting an interaction occurring between existing equivalence relations and the development of analytic units.

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Silguero, Russell V. "Do contingency-conflicting elements drop out of equivalence classes? Re-testing Sidman's (2000) theory." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2015. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc848078/.

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Sidman's (2000) theory of stimulus equivalence states that all positive elements in a reinforcement contingency enter an equivalence class. The theory also states that if an element from an equivalence class conflicts with a programmed reinforcement contingency, the conflicting element will drop out of the equivalence class. Minster et al. (2006) found evidence suggesting that a conflicting element does not drop out of an equivalence class. In an effort to explain maintained accuracy on programmed reinforcement contingencies, the authors seem to suggest that participants will behave in accordance with a particular partitioning of the equivalence class which continues to include the conflicting element. This hypothesis seems to explain their data well, but their particular procedures are not a good test of the notion of "dropping out" due to the pre-establishment of equivalence classes before the conflicting member entered the class. The current experiment first developed unpartitioned equivalence classes and only later exposed participants to reinforcement contingencies that conflicted with pre-established equivalence classes. The results are consistent with the notion that a partition developed such that the conflicting element had dropped out of certain subclasses of the original equivalence class. The notion of a partitioning of an equivalence class seems to provide a fuller description of the phenomenon Sidman (1994, 2000) described as "dropping out" of an equivalence class.

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Koelker, Rachel Lee. "Comparing a discriminative stimulus procedure to a pairing procedure: Conditioning neutral social stimuli to function as conditioned reinforcers." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12143/.

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Social stimuli that function as reinforcers for most children generally do not function as reinforcers for children diagnosed with autism. These important social stimuli include smiles, head nods, thumb-ups, and okay signs. It should be an important goal of therapy for children with autism to condition these neutral social stimuli to function as reinforcers for children diagnosed with autism. There is empirical evidence to support both a pairing procedure (classical conditioning) and a discriminative stimulus procedure to condition neutral stimuli to function as reinforcers. However, there is no clear evidence as to the superiority of effectiveness for either procedure. Despite this most textbooks and curriculum guides for children with autism state only the pairing procedure to condition neutral stimuli to function as reinforcers. Recent studies suggest that the discriminative stimulus procedure may in fact be more effective in conditioning neutral stimuli to function as reinforcers for children diagnosed with autism. The present research is a further comparison of these two procedures. Results from one participant support recent findings that suggest the discriminative stimulus procedure is more effective in conditioning neutral stimuli to function as reinforcers. But the results from the other participant show no effects from either procedure, suggesting future research into conditions necessary to condition neutral social stimuli to function as reinforcers for children with autism.

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Sansing, Elizabeth M. "Teaching Observational Learning to Children with Autism: An In-vivo and Video-Model Assessment." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2017. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1062891/.

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Observational learning (OL) occurs when an individual contacts reinforcement as a direct result of discriminating the observed consequences of other individuals' responses. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have deficits in observational learning and previous research has demonstrated that teaching a series of prerequisite skills (i.e., attending, imitation, delayed imitation, and consequence discrimination) can result in observational learning. We sequentially taught these prerequisite skills for three young children with ASD across three play-based tasks. We assessed the direct and indirect effects of training by assessing OL before and after instruction across tasks and task variations (for two participants) during both in-vivo and video-model probes using a concurrent multiple-probe design. All participants acquired the prerequisite skills and demonstrated observational learning during probes of directly-trained tasks. Generalization results varied across participants. Observational learning generalized to one untrained task for one participant. For the other two participants, observational learning generalized to variations of the trained tasks but not to untrained tasks. Generalization additionally occurred during the in-vivo probes for both participants for whom we assessed this response. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

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Wiist, Catherine E. C. "The Effects of Differential Outcomes on Audio-Visual Conditional Discriminations in Children with ASD." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2018. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1157625/.

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The differential outcomes effect (DOE) refers to an observed increase in rates of acquisition of simple or conditional relations when the contingencies of reinforcement arrange for reinforcers to be uniquely correlated with a particular stimulus or response relative to conditions where the reinforcers are not uniquely correlated with either stimulus or response. This effect has been robustly documented in the literature with nonhuman subjects. This study asked whether the DOE would be observed with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learning audio-visual conditional relations. Two participants learned two sets of 3 audio-visual conditional relations. For one set, the training conditions arranged for each of the three conditional relations to be uniquely correlated with a particular reinforcing stimulus (the DO condition). For the second set, the training conditions arranged for the same reinforcer to be used for all three audio-visual conditional relations (the NDO condition). Early results show that audio-visual conditional relations were acquired faster under the DO condition relative to the NDO outcomes condition (accuracy in DO condition was 30.8% higher on average than in NDO condition). These data suggest that differential outcomes should be more thoroughly investigated with children with diagnoses of ASD.

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Stachenfeld, Kimberly. "Learning Neural Representations that Support Efficient Reinforcement Learning." Thesis, Princeton University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10824319.

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RL has been transformative for neuroscience by providing a normative anchor for interpreting neural and behavioral data. End-to-end RL methods have scored impressive victories with minimal compromises in autonomy, hand-engineering, and generality. The cost of this minimalism in practice is that model-free RL methods are slow to learn and generalize poorly. Humans and animals exhibit substantially improved flexibility and generalize learned information rapidly to new environment by learning invariants of the environment and features of the environment that support fast learning rapid transfer in new environments. An important question for both neuroscience and machine learning is what kind of ``representational objectives'' encourage humans and other animals to encode structure about the world. This can be formalized as ``representation feature learning,'' in which the animal or agent learns to form representations with information potentially relevant to the downstream RL process. We will overview different representational objectives that have received attention in neuroscience and in machine learning. The focus of this overview will be to first highlight conditions under which these seemingly unrelated objectives are actually mathematically equivalent. We will use this to motivate a breakdown of properties of different learned representations that are meaningfully different and can be used to inform contrasting hypotheses for neuroscience. We then use this perspective to motivate our model of the hippocampus. A cognitive map has long been the dominant metaphor for hippocampal function, embracing the idea that place cells encode a geometric representation of space. However, evidence for predictive coding, reward sensitivity, and policy dependence in place cells suggests that the representation is not purely spatial. We approach the problem of understanding hippocampal representations from a reinforcement learning perspective, focusing on what kind of spatial representation is most useful for maximizing future reward. We show that the answer takes the form of a predictive representation. This representation captures many aspects of place cell responses that fall outside the traditional view of a cognitive map. We go on to argue that entorhinal grid cells encode a low-dimensional basis set for the predictive representation, useful for suppressing noise in predictions and extracting multiscale structure for hierarchical planning.

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Cigales, Maricel. "Vicarious reinforcement is a result of earlier learning." FIU Digital Commons, 1995. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2367.

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The term "vicarious reinforcement" has been used by social-learning theorists to denote imitation that results from the observed reinforcement of behavior performed by a model. This conceptualization is incompatible with that of behavior analysis because it ignores the effect of prior learning on the observer's behavior and violates the definition of reinforcement. Experiment 1 replicated prior findings. Preschool children (N=32) imitated a model's reinforced choice responses, in the absence of direct experience with contingencies. In Experiment 2 (N=48), subjects failed to imitate reinforced modeled behavior when observed behavior contingencies were 'incongruent' with those experienced. The results were interpreted as consistent with the behavior-analytic position that observed reinforcement of a model's behavior functions as a discriminative cue (SD), not reinforcement, for the observer's imitative responses.

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Jacome, Natalie B. "The effects of outcome reversals on children's conditional discrimination, equivalence, and reinforcer-probe performances /." Electronic version (PDF), 2007. http://dl.uncw.edu/etd/2007-2/jacomen/nataliejacome.pdf.

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Costa, Daniel S. J. "Maintenance of behaviour when reinforcement becomes delayed." Connect to full text, 2009. http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/5078.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2009.
Includes graphs and tables. Title from title screen (viewed June 15, 2009) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of Psychology, Faculty of Science. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

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Duarte, Myra. "The effects of immediate versus delayed reinforcement on infant operant learning." FIU Digital Commons, 2002. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/3089.

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Two experiments examined operant leg kick responses to a panel by six 3-month-old infants under baseline, immediate reinforcement, delayed reinforcement, and yoked-control conditions using a discrete trial procedure and a single-subject repeated-measures design. Two infants participated in the first experiment and four infants participated in the second experiment. The research design of Experiment I was baseline (A), 5s delay of reinforcement (C), yoked-control (A'), and immediate reinforcement (B). There were two experimental orders in the second experiment. The first order consisted of baseline (A), immediate reinforcement (B), yoked-control (A'), and 5s delay of reinforcement (C). The second order consisted of baseline (A), 5s delayed reinforcement (C), yoked-control (A'), and immediate reinforcement (B). The reinforcer was a combination of multicolored holiday lights and music, and a moving hand puppet. Changes in experimental phases were based on the attainment of learning and stability criteria. With the exception of one infant, leg kicks to a to a panel were learned under both immediate and 5s delay of reinforcement conditions, with learning appearing to be attained more rapidly under immediate reinforcement.

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Ritter, Samuel. "Meta-reinforcement Learning with Episodic Recall| An Integrative Theory of Reward-Driven Learning." Thesis, Princeton University, 2019. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13420812.

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Research on reward-driven learning has produced and substantiated theories of model-free and model-based reinforcement learning (RL), which respectively explain how humans and animals learn reflexive habits and build prospective plans. A highly developed line of work has unearthed the role of striatal dopamine in model-free learning, while the prefrontal cortex (PFC) appears to critically subserve model-based learning. The recent theory of meta-reinforcement learning (meta-RL) explained a wide array of findings by positing that the model-free dopaminergic reward prediction error trains the recurrent prefrontal network to execute arbitrary RL algorithms—including model-based RL—in its activations.

In parallel, a nascent understanding of a third reinforcement learning system is emerging: a non-parametric system that stores memory traces of individual experiences rather than aggregate statistics. Research on such episodic learning has revealed its unmistakeable traces in human behavior, developed theory to articulate algorithms underlying that behavior, and pursued the contention that the hippocampus is centrally involved. These developments lead to a set of open questions about (1) how the neural mechanisms of episodic learning relate to those underlying incremental model-free and model-based learning and (2) how the brain arbitrates among the contributions of this abundance of valuation strategies.

This thesis extends meta-RL to provide an account for episodic learning, incremental learning, and the coordination between them. In this theory of episodic meta-RL (EMRL), episodic memory reinstates activations in the prefrontal network based on contextual similarity, after passing them through a learned gating mechanism (Chapters 1 and 2). In simulation, EMRL can solve episodic contextual water maze navigation problems and episodic contextual bandit problems, including those with Omniglot class contexts and others with compositional structure (Chapter 3). Further, EMRL reproduces episodic model-based RL and its coordination with incremental model-based RL on the episodic two-step task (Vikbladh et al., 2017; Chapter 4). Chapter 5 discusses more biologically detailed extensions to EMRL, and Chapter 6 analyzes EMRL with respect to a set of recent empirical findings. Chapter 7 discusses EMRL in the context of various topics in neuroscience.

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Foo, Chia Mun. "Learning Requires Attention for Binding Affective Reinforcement to Information Content." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/555.

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Humans are limited in their capacity to process information about the environment; to choose the most salient details to process, we have to make rapid value appraisals and prioritize our attentional resources. In this proposed study, it is expected that attention is required to learn from affective information. Learning is measured by the difference between update (the difference between the first and second estimation) and the estimation error (the difference between the average likelihood and the first estimation). Using a belief-updating paradigm, participants will be asked to estimate their likelihood of encountering a negative event, once before and once after they receive the average likelihood information. By comparing the difference in estimations after being exposed to desirable or undesirable information and a positive or negative reinforcer across three levels of attentional load, the effects of attention on learning from affective reinforcement can be examined. It is proposed that attention mediates learning from affective information. This is demonstrated by the failure to learn differentially from affective information under high attentional load, while in a no load condition participants will learn differentially according to the type of news and affective reinforcer that they receive. The expected result would indicate that attention is a necessity for optimal learning outcomes, especially when learning from affective information. This has implications in the effectiveness of communicating affective information, such as in the health care field.

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Aquili, Luca. "Refinement of biologically inspired models of reinforcement learning." Thesis, St Andrews, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/886.

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Brackney, Ryan Vaidya Manish. "Interactions of equivalence and other behavioral relations simple successive discrimination training /." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12087.

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Ortz, Courtney. "Aging and Associative and Inductive Reasoning Processes in Discrimination Learning." TopSCHOLAR®, 2006. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/266.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate how associative and inductive reasoning processes develop over trials in feature positive (FP) and feature negative (FN) discrimination learning. Younger and older adults completed initial and transfer tasks with either consistent or inconsistent transfer. Participants articulated a rule on every trial. The measure of discrimination learning was the number of trials it took participants to articulate the exact rule. In the initial task, older adults articulated the rule more slowly than younger adults in FP discrimination and took marginally more trials to articulate the rule in FN discrimination than younger adults. Age differences were greater in FP discrimination than in FN discrimination learning because younger adults performed well in FP discrimination learning. In the transfer task, older adults articulated the FP rule more slowly than younger adults and both groups articulated the rule more quickly with consistent than inconsistent transfer. Older adults articulated the FN rule slower than older adults. The differences in trials to articulate the FN rule for the two groups were somewhat larger for inconsistent transfer than consistent transfer. Discrimination learning was explained in terms of associative and inductive reasoning processes reasonably well. The measure of associative processes was forgotten responses, whereas the measures of inductive reasoning processes were irrelevant cue shifts and perseverations. In FP discrimination learning in the initial task, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses, irrelevant cue shifts, and marginally more perseverations than younger adults. Therefore, older adults had more difficulty with associative and inductive reasoning processes than younger adults in FP discrimination. In FN discrimination, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses than younger adults. Older and younger adults had a similar number of irrelevant cue shifts and perseverations. Therefore, in FN discrimination older adults had more difficulty with associative processes than younger adults. Both groups had difficulty with inductive reasoning processes. In FP discrimination in the transfer task, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses, irrelevant cue shifts, and perseverations than younger adults, and these proportions were similar in consistent and inconsistent transfer. Therefore, in FP discrimination older adults had more difficulty than younger adults with both associative and inductive reasoning processes. Both processes were similar with regards to consistent and inconsistent transfer. In FN discrimination, older adults had a greater proportion of forgotten responses than younger adults, and the proportion of forgotten responses was greater in inconsistent than in consistent transfer. Both groups made a similar number of irrelevant cue shifts, and there was a marginal difference in consistent and inconsistent transfer for this measure with a greater number in inconsistent transfer. Older adults had a greater proportion of perseverations than younger adults. However, there were no differences in the number of perseverations for consistent and inconsistent transfer. Thus, older adults had difficulty with associative and inductive reasoning processes. Younger adults' inductive reasoning skills improved. The associative and inductive reasoning processes in FN discrimination were not as efficient in inconsistent transfer as in consistent transfer.

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Bredthauer, Jennifer Lyn Johnston James M. "The assessment of preference for qualitatively different reinforcers in persons with developmental and learning disabilities a comparison of value using behavioral economic and standard preference assessment procedures /." Auburn, Ala, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10415/1809.

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Lee, Coral Em. "Order effects of variability-contingent and variability-independent point delivery: Effects on operant variability and target sequence acquisition." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2004. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4502/.

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Previous research has shown that variability is a reinforceable dimension of operant behavior. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that learning is facilitated when variability in responding is high. In this research, variability was observed within an operant composed of any sequence of six left and right key presses. Variability was either a requirement for point delivery (VAR conditions) or points were delivered independent of variability (ANY conditions). Two groups of college undergraduates experienced different orders of conditions. One group began the experiment under VAR conditions, and the variability requirement was later removed. The other group began the experiment under ANY conditions, and the variability requirement was later added. A concurrently reinforced target sequence (i.e., an always-reinforced sequence of left and right key presses) was introduced to both groups after these orders of conditions had been experienced. A variety of outcomes resulted. Subjects learned the target sequence when variability was both high and low with non-target points concurrently available. Other subjects learned the target sequence after all non-target point deliveries had been suspended. One subject failed to acquire the target sequence at all. These results were compared to previous findings and possible explanations for the discrepancies were suggested.

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Brown, Morgan E. "Effects of Age, Task Type, and Information Load on Discrimination Learning." TopSCHOLAR®, 2016. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1648.

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The feature positive effect (FPE) is a phenomenon in discrimination learning by which learning occurs more quickly when the presence (Feature positive; FP), rather than absence (Feature negative; FN) of a stimulus indicates a response should be made. Although the FPE has been extensively corroborated, a reversal, or feature negative effect (FNE), has been found when a target stimulus comes from a smaller set of stimuli (Fiedler, Eckert, & Poysiak, 1988). Age differences in FP and FN learning indicate that older adults perform more poorly than young adults on both FP and FN tasks, and are likely related to decline in working memory (WM) throughout adulthood (Mutter, Haggbloom, Plumlee, & Schrimer, 2006). This study used a successive discrimination task to compare young and older adults’ performance across FP and FN conditions under low (three of a set of four stimuli were presented) and high (three of a set of six stimuli were presented) information load (IL). Results from rule articulation, final incorrect and 12 consecutive trials correct did not support the hypotheses, but trend analyses provided partial support. Under low IL, YA demonstrated a FN response bias whereas OA showed no bias. Under high IL, YA and OA demonstrated equivalent performance whether the target stimulus was present or absent in the FP condition. In the FN condition OA performed better when the target stimulus was absent while YA showed no bias. These findings indicate FN task performance varies by age and this variation changes based on IL condition.

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Ridley, Elizabeth. "Error-Related Negativity and Feedback-Related Negativity on a Reinforcement Learning Task." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2020. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3714.

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Event-related potentials play a significant role in error processing and attentional processes. Specifically, event-related negativity (ERN), feedback-related negativity (FRN), and the P300 are related to performance monitoring. The current study examined these components in relation to subjective probability, or confidence, regarding response accuracy on a complicated learning task. Results indicated that confidence ratings were not associated with any changes in ERN, FRN, or P300 amplitude. P300 amplitude did not vary according to participants’ subjective probabilities. ERN amplitude and FRN amplitude did not change throughout the task as participants learned. Future studies should consider the relationship between ERN and FRN using a learning task that is less difficult than the one employed in this study.

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Heimisson, Gudmundur Torfi. "The importance of program-delivered differential reinforcement in the development of classical music auditory discrimination." [Tampa, Fla.] : University of South Florida, 2004. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/SFE0000440.

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Jones, Aaron A. Glenn Sigrid S. "Conditional discrimination and stimulus equivalence effects of suppressing derived symmetrical responses on the emergence of transitivity /." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2007. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-3658.

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Madrigal-Bauguss, Jessica Glenn Sigrid S. "Transfer of "good" and "bad" functions within stimulus equivalence classes." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2008. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-6080.

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Bradley, Curtis. "Examining the Associative Learning and Accumbal Dopaminergic Mechanisms of Caffeine Reinforcement." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3457.

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Caffeine is the most consumed psychoactive substance in the world, and most caffeine consumption in coffee and energy drinks is intended to produce a psychoactive effect. However, caffeine is not a primary reinforcer in preclinical paradigms – non-human species do not reliably take the drug to produce a psychoactive effect. However, caffeine is a ‘reinforcement enhancer’ in preclinical models; the effects of caffeine increase the motivation to obtain other non-drug reinforcers. The overall goal of this project was to determine if these reinforcement enhancing effects of caffeine could promote caffeine self-administration and to subsequently investigate the behavioral and neurochemical underpinnings of this effect. We hypothesized reliable caffeine self-administration would occur by adventitious pairing of caffeine with saccharin, a primary reinforcer. Second, we hypothesized that caffeine enhances reinforcement by increasing the salience of incentive stimuli, which are stimuli that come to evoke approach behaviors through associative learning (e.g., Pavlovian conditioning). Finally, incentive salience is moderated by dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), an area highly involved in reward-learning and substance dependence. Therefore, we hypothesized that if caffeine enhanced control of approach behavior by incentives, then it would increase the ability of incentive stimuli to evoke dopamine in the NAc. These studies show that intravenous delivery of caffeine with oral saccharin increases operant relative to control groups responding for intravenous caffeine or oral saccharin. The effect was also dose-dependent, confirming that the psychoactive effects of caffeine increased behavior. We also extended this effect to an oral model of caffeine self-administration, which included a simple sweetener (saccharin) or a complex oral vehicle (saccharin with decaffeinated coffee) to mask the bitter taste of caffeine. Presenting caffeine with oral saccharin promoted self-administration, relative to saccharin alone and did not depend on the nature of the complexity of the vehicle. Caffeine also dose-dependently increased approach to an incentive stimulus and this effect was associated with increased extracellular dopamine in the NAc. These findings suggest caffeine enhances incentive motivation and that this effect may result from increases in CS-evoked striatal dopamine.

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Suits, David B. "A simplified drive-reinforcement model for unsupervised learning in artificial neural networks /." Online version of thesis, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/11087.

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Ridley, Elizabeth, Marissa Jones, Ethan Ashworth, and Eric Sellers. "Error-related Negativity and Feedback-related Negativity on a Reinforcement Learning Task." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2019. https://dc.etsu.edu/asrf/2019/schedule/67.

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The measurement of electrical activity at the scalp using EEG can provide great insight into cognition and information processing. For example, event-related potentials (ERPs) are positive or negative deflections that correspond to a stimulus or event. These ERPs can reflect error processing and attentional processes associated with a stimulus. Specifically, error-related negativity and feedback-related negativity (ERN, FRN), are related to performance/conflict monitoring. Furthermore, the P300 ERP reflects attentional processes in response to target stimuli. Previous research examining the P300 component on a complex learning task has demonstrated increased P300 amplitude in response to violations of participants’ expectations about task events. The current study extends this research by examining ERN and FRN amplitudes on trials with incorrect behavioral responses throughout the same learning task. Pilot data has been collected from four participants. Participants wore an electrode cap with 32 electrodes to record EEG data while completing a paired associate task. Pilot data has demonstrated an increased ERN amplitude 50ms after error commission on incorrect trials. The ERN and FRN amplitudes were greater for incorrect trials than for correct trials. Larger P300 amplitudes were also observed for the incorrect trials than for the correct trials. This extension upon previous findings provides further insight into the role of performance monitoring and error processing in learning.

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Palmer, Ashlyn. "Using Concurrent Schedules of Reinforcement to Decrease Behavior." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2017. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1062900/.

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We manipulated delay and magnitude of reinforcers in two concurrent schedules of reinforcement to decrease a prevalent behavior while increasing another behavior already in the participant's repertoire. The first experiment manipulated delay, implementing a five second delay between the behavior and delivery of reinforcement for a behavior targeted for decrease while no delay was implemented after the behavior targeted for increase. The second experiment manipulated magnitude, providing one piece of food for the behavior targeted for decrease while two pieces of food were provided for the behavior targeted for increase. The experiments used an ABAB reversal design. Results suggest that behavior can be decreased without the use of extinction when contingencies favor the desirable behavior.

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Zayac, Ryan M. "Contriving establishing operations responsese of individuals with developmental disabilities during learning task /." Auburn, Ala., 2005. http://repo.lib.auburn.edu/2005%20Fall/Thesis/ZAYAC_RYAN_48.pdf.

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Al-Safi, Abdullah Taha. "Social reinforcement and risk-taking factors to enhance creativity in Saudi Arabian school children." Thesis, Cardiff University, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.296226.

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Corns, David Allan. "The effects of graduated stimulus change on learning efficiency in a visual discrimination task." Virtual Press, 1990. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/720342.

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The investigation examined differences in learning efficiency produced by two different methods of discrimination training among regular placement fifth-grade pupils. It was designed to explore possible between-group differences in rate of learning, length of training, mastery rate, recall of learning, and task persistence following training. The experiment consisted of training, an interference task, and a concluding posttest. Two independent groups were formed by random assignment of subjects. The experimental group began training with graduated stimulus change trials--that is, subjects were presented with a succession of three visual discrimination tasks consisting of six trials per task designed to teach correct responding before incorrect alternatives were gradually introduced. Control subjects did not receive graduated stimulus change trials. Instead, they began each task in the training phase with more complex discriminations at trial seven. Pennies were used for reinforcement of correct choices in each group; incorrect selection resulted in no reinforcer delivery. Both groups were then administered a brief exercise designed to inhibit the recall of acquired discriminations. All subjects concluded with a 54-item posttest consisting of intermingled trials from the three-task training phase. The first 21 items were considered mandatory, but the final 33 were optional (i.e., subjects were instructed to complete as many items as they wished and informed that each correct selection earned a penny). Results indicated that graduated stimulus change (GSC) learners committed significantly fewer errors learning the discriminations and mastered significantly more of the training tasks presented than did trial-and-error learners. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the length of training nor in the degree of persistence during posttest voluntary responding. GSC subjects also committed significantly fewer errors on recall than controls although the degree of absolute forgetting in each group was not significantly different. The findings suggest that regular placement, "easy-to-teach" pupils can profit from GSC programming in several important ways. Without lengthening the training process, stimulus control methodologies can render instruction more efficient than trial-and-error procedures for nonimpaired learners. The need is apparent for further experimental research on the application of errorless discrimination procedures to other areas and levels of education.
Department of Educational Psychology

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Jagodnik, Kathleen M. "Reinforcement Learning and Feedback Control for High-Level Upper-Extremity Neuroprostheses." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1395789620.

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Martin, Tiffani L. Vaidya Manish. "Does stimulus complexity affect acquisition of conditional discriminations and the emergence of derived relations?" [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2009. http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12160.

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Brackney, Ryan. "Interactions of equivalence and other behavioral relations: Simple successive discrimination training." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2009. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc12087/.

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The experimenter asked if documented equivalence class membership would influence the development of shared discriminative stimulus function established through simple successive discrimination training. In Experiment 1, equivalence classes were established with two sets of 9 stimuli. Common stimulus functions were then trained within or across the equivalence classes. Greater acquisition rates of the simple discriminations with stimuli drawn from within the equivalence classes were observed. In Experiment 2, a third stimulus set was added with which no equivalence relations were explicitly trained. The findings of Experiment 1 were replicated, but the Set 3 results were inconsistent across subjects. The outcomes of the two experiments demonstrate that equivalence classes have an effect on other behavioral relations which requires further investigation.

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Seymour, Kail H. "The Effects of Reinforcing Operant Variability on Task Acquisition." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2002. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3273/.

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Neuringer, Deiss, and Olson (2000) was replicated and extended to determine the effect of variability contingencies on task acquisition for twelve 7-9 year old children. Subjects first learned to press a computer's shift keys with increasing response variation. Each subject was then exposed to one of three experimental conditions during which they received a point for target responses. Variability condition subjects received additional points on a variable interval schedule for nontarget responses occurring less than 3% of the time. The any condition subjects received additional points on a variable interval schedule for any nontarget response. Control subjects received points only for target responses. All variability condition and two control subjects learned the target response. All any condition subjects and two control subjects did not.

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Grechus, Marilyn L. "The comparison of individualized computer game reinforcement versus peer-interactive board game reiniforcement on nutrition label knowledge retention of fifth graders /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 1997. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9841145.

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McCary, Donald. "The Effects of Shaping and Instruction-based Procedures on Behavioral Variability during Acquisition and Extinction." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1999. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2244/.

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This study examined effects of two response acquisition procedures on topography of responding using the revealed operant technique and compared results to previous experiments on this topic. Subjects emitted 100 repetitions each of 4 response patterns on a continuous schedule of reinforcement. A 30-min extinction condition followed acquisition. One group of subjects learned the first response through a series of shaping steps designed to reduce acquisition variability. Another group of subjects was instructed in the correct response topography and was told there was no penalty for attempting other sequences. The first group of subjects produced high variability during extinction despite reduced variability in acquisition. The second group of subjects responded with moderate to high variability during extinction and little variability during acquisition. Most extinction responses for the first group were variations of the last pattern reinforced. Most extinction responses for the second group were repetitions of the last pattern reinforced.

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Cline, Tammy Lynn. "Effects of Training Accurate Component Strokes Using Response Constraint and Self-evaluation on Whole Letter Writing." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2006. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5472/.

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This study analyzed the effects of a training package containing response constraint, self-evaluation, reinforcement, and a fading procedure on written letter components and whole letter writing in four elementary school participants. The effect on accuracy of written components was evaluated using a multiple-baseline-across components and a continuous probe design of components, as well as pre-test, baseline, and post-test measures. The results of this study show that response constraint and self-evaluation quickly improved students' performance in writing components. Fading of the intervention was achieved quickly and performance maintained. Results also show that improvement in component writing improved whole letter and full name writing and letter reversals in the presence of a model were corrected.

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Kyle, Robert. "Models and metaphors in neuroscience : the role of dopamine in reinforcement learning as a case study." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6263.

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Neuroscience makes use of many metaphors in its attempt to explain the relationship between our brain and our behaviour. In this thesis I contrast the most commonly used metaphor - that of computation driven by neuron action potentials - with an alternative view which seeks to understand the brain in terms of an agent learning from the reward signalled by neuromodulators. To explore this reinforcement learning model I construct computational models to assess one of its key claims — that the neurotransmitter dopamine signals unexpected reward, and that this signal is used by the brain to learn control of our movements and drive goal-directed behaviour. In this thesis I develop a selection of computational models that are motivated by either theoretical concepts or experimental data relating to the effects of dopamine. The first model implements a published dopamine-modulated spike timing-dependent plasticity mechanism but is unable to correctly solve the distal reward problem. I analyse why this model fails and suggest solutions. The second model, more closely linked to the empirical data attempts to investigate the relative contributions of firing rate and synaptic conductances to synaptic plasticity. I use experimental data to estimate how model neurons will be affected by dopamine modulation, and use the resulting computational model to predict the effect of dopamine on synaptic plasticity. The results suggest that dopamine modulation of synaptic conductances is more significant than modulation of excitability. The third model demonstrates how simple assumptions about the anatomy of the basal ganglia, and the electrophysiological effects of dopamine modulation can lead to reinforcement learning like behaviour. The model makes the novel prediction that working memory is an emergent feature of a reinforcement learning process. In the course of producing these models I find that both theoretically and empirically based models suffer from methodological problems that make it difficult to adequately support such fundamental claims as the reinforcement learning hypothesis. The conclusion that I draw from the modelling work is that it is neither possible, nor desirable to falsify the theoretical models used in neuroscience. Instead I argue that models and metaphors can be valued by how useful they are, independently of their truth. As a result I suggest that we ought to encourage a plurality of models and metaphors in neuroscience. In Chapter 7 I attempt to put this into practice by reviewing the other transmitter systems that modulate dopamine release, and use this as a basis for exploring the context of dopamine modulation and reward-driven behaviour. I draw on evidence to suggest that dopamine modulation can be seen as part of an extended stress response, and that the function of dopamine is to encourage the individual to engage in behaviours that take it away from homeostasis. I also propose that the function of dopamine can be interpreted in terms of behaviourally defining self and non-self, much in the same way as inflammation and antibody responses are said to do in immunology.

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MacKendrick, Alex. "Interleaved Effects in Inductive Category Learning: The Role of Memory Retention." Scholar Commons, 2015. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5846.

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Interleaved effects are widely documented. Research demonstrates that interleaved presentation orders, as opposed to blocked orders typically benefit inductive category learning. What drives interleaved effects is less straightforward. Interleaved presentations provide both the opportunity to compare and contrast between different types of category exemplars, which are temporally juxtaposed, and the opportunity to space study of the same type of category exemplars, which are temporally separated within the presentation span. Accordingly, interleaved effects might be driven by enhanced discrimination, enhanced memory retention, or both in some measure. Though recent studies have largely endorsed enhanced discrimination as the critical mechanism driving interleaved effects, there is no strong evidence to controvert the contribution of enhanced memory retention for interleaved effects. I further examined the role of memory retention by manipulating both presentation order and category structure. Across two experiments I found that memory retention may drive interleaved effects in categorization tasks.

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Rahmouni, Sohir. "Adaptation saccadique : un modèle d’apprentissage opérant et ses contraintes biologiques." Thesis, Lille 3, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019LIL3H070.

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Comment les organismes adaptent-ils les comportements moteurs aux variations de l’environnement? Cette thèse tente de répondre à cette question en s’appuyant sur la théorie du conditionnement opérant appliquée à un apprentissage moteur appelé adaptation saccadique. Nous postulons que la vision précise d’une cible est la source de renforcement fonctionnel à l’origine de l’adaptation de l’amplitude des saccades. Dans la première étude de cette thèse nous avons mesuré l’adaptation saccadique pour un effectif de participants important. Les résultats révèlent le caractère reproductible de cet apprentissage mais nous observons également de fortes différences interindividuelles. Ces différences ne semblent pas corrélées aux caractéristiques individuelles du système saccadique, et pourraient refléter des différences plus générales de sensibilité aux contingences de renforcement.Pour explorer l’effet du renforcement sur l’amplitude des saccades nous avons construit un paradigme permettant de dissocier le rôle du renforcement du rôle du signal d’erreur de position. La seconde étude de cette thèse démontre ainsi que la capacité à réaliser une tâche de discrimination visuelle en fonction de l'amplitude des saccades produites peut effectivement induire des modifications du gain saccadique, ce qui conforte l’hypothèse du caractère opérant de l’adaptation saccadique. L’analyse des résultats obtenus suggère également qu’il existerait des contraintes biologiques fortes pesant sur ces apprentissages. Dans une troisième étude, nous explorons d’autres contraintes biologiques en nous attachant à préciser les conditions d’un contrôle discriminatif de l’adaptation saccadique. Nous montrons que la forme et la couleur de la cible peuvent servir de stimulus discriminatif pour évoquer des états d'adaptation différents. En prenant en compte la dimension biologique du comportement et en rendant ces stimuli pertinents par l'ajout d'un distracteur, nous avons forcé la sélection de la cible et augmenté la pertinence de la caractéristique impliquée dans le contrôle discriminatif. L’ensemble de ces résultats vient soutenir l’hypothèse du caractère opérant du comportement saccadique. Ils révèlent également le caractère spécifique des contraintes s’appliquant aux apprentissages et soulignent l’importance de l’adéquation des contingences de renforcement au système comportemental considéré
How do organisms adapt their motor behaviors to environmental variations? This thesis attempts to answer this question within the framework of operant conditioning applied to a form of motor learning called saccadic adaptation. We postulate that the vision of a target is the functional reinforcer that leads to the adaptation of the saccade amplitudes. In the first study of this thesis we measured the saccade adaptation in a large number of participants. The results reveal the high reproducibility of this learning. However, we also report strong inter-individual differences that do not appear to be correlated to the individual characteristics of the saccadic system, and may reflect more general differences in sensitivity to reinforcement contingencies.To explore the effect of the reinforcement on the amplitude of the saccades we have constructed a paradigm to dissociate the role of reinforcement from the role of the position error signal. The second study of this thesis reveals that having the ability to perform a visual discrimination task contingent on the saccades amplitudes can effectively induce modifications of the saccadic gain, which supports the hypothesis of the operant nature of saccadic adaptation. The analysis of the motor changes also suggests that there are strong biological constraints for this learning. In a third study, we further explore other biological constraints by focusing on the conditions for discriminative control for saccadic adaptation. We show that the shape and colour of the target can serve as a discriminative stimulus to evoke different states of adaptation. By taking into account the biological dimension of the behavior and making these stimuli relevant by adding a distractor, we forced the target selection and increased the relevance of the characteristic used for discriminative control. Overall, these results support the hypothesis that saccades are operant behaviors. They also reveal the specific nature of the constraints applying to learning and underline the importance of matching the reinforcement contingencies to the behavioral system under consideration

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Rayburn-Reeves, Rebecca Marie. "AN ANALYSIS OF BEHAVIORAL FLEXIBILITY AND CUE PREFERENCE IN PIGEONS UNDER VARIABLE REVERSAL LEARNING CONDITIONS." UKnowledge, 2011. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/psychology_etds/1.

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Behavioral flexibility, the ability to change behavior in accordance with the changing environment, was studied in pigeons using a series of reversal learning paradigms. All experiments involved a series of 5-trial sequences and I was interested in whether pigeons are sensitive to the reversal by switching to the other alternative after a single error. In Experiments 1 and 2, the overall probability of the two stimuli was equated over sequences, but the probability correct of the two stimuli changed across trials. In both experiments, subjects showed no sensitivity to the differences in sequence type. Instead they used the overall average of the probability of reinforcement on each trial as the basis of choice. In the final two experiments, the likelihood that a reversal would occur on a given trial was equated such that there was an equal overall probability that the two stimuli would be correct on a given trial, but the overall probability of each stimulus being correct across sequences favored the second correct stimulus (S2). In Experiment 3, the overall probability of S2 correct was 80%, and results showed that subjects consistently chose S2 regardless of sequence type or trial number. In Experiment 4, the overall likelihood of S2 correct was 65%, and results showed that subjects began all sequences at chance, and as the sequence progressed, began choosing S2 more often. In all experiments, subjects showed remarkably similar behavior regardless of where (or whether) the reversal occurred in a given sequence. Therefore, subjects appeared to be insensitive to the consequences of responses within a sequence (local information) and instead, seemed to be averaging over the sequences based on the overall probability of reinforcement for S1 or S2 being correct on each trial (aggregate information), thus not maximizing overall reinforcement. Together, the results of this series of experiments suggest that pigeons have a basic disposition for using the overall probability instead of using local feedback cues provided by the outcome of individual trials. The fact that pigeons do not use the more optimal information afforded by recent reinforcement contingencies to maximize reinforcement has implications for their use of flexible response strategies under reversal learning conditions.

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Michniewicz, Leslie (Leslie A. ). "The Role of a Point Loss Contingency on the Emergence of Derived Relations in the Absence of Original Relations." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1997. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279016/.

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The role of point loss for symmetrical relations introduced simultaneously with probe trials in the absence of original relations on all probe trial performances was evaluated. Training was completed after six conditional discriminations were established in two contexts. Point loss was introduced simultaneously with probe trials in the absence of original relations in the first context. Probe trials with no point loss in the absence of original relations were introduced in the second context. The simultaneous introduction of probe trials and the point loss contingency may in some cases prevent the emergence of an equivalence class in the context that contained the point loss as well as in the context where no point loss occurred.

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Stanley, Kelly N. "The influence of training structure and instructions on generalized stimulus equivalence classes and typicality effects /." Electronic version (PDF), 2004. http://dl.uncw.edu/etd/2004/stanleyk/kellystanley.html.

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O'Brien, Karen M. Murrell Amy Rebekah Epstein. "An exploration of the relationship between worry and other verbal phenomena." [Denton, Tex.] : University of North Texas, 2008. http://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-6069.

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Jones, Aaron A. "Conditional Discrimination and Stimulus Equivalence: Effects of Suppressing Derived Symmetrical Responses on the Emergence of Transitivity." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2007. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc3658/.

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Symmetry suppression was conducted for five subjects who demonstrated a tendency to derive equivalence relations based on conditional discrimination training in a match-to-sample procedure. Symmetry suppression was applied in three consecutive sessions in which symmetrical responses were suppressed for one stimulus class in the first condition, two stimulus classes in the second condition, and all three stimulus classes in the final condition. Symmetry suppression slowed the emergence of transitivity for two subjects and prevented it for the other three. Results indicated that unplanned features of stimulus configurations emerged as discriminative variables that controlled selection responses and altered the function of consequent stimuli. Disruption of cognitive development by conflicting contingencies in natural learning environments is discussed.

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Gong, Mingliang. "Orientation discrimination in periphery: Surround suppression or crowding?" Miami University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1430433449.

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Madrigal-Bauguss, Jessica. "Transfer of "good" and "bad" functions within stimulus equivalence classes." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2008. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc6080/.

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This study compared results of two experiments that tested transfer of function in stimulus equivalence classes in a task dissimilar to (in Experiment I) and similar to (in Experiment II) the task that trained functional responding. Eleven students from UNT participated in return for monetary compensation. Phase 1 and 2 were identical in the two experiments, in which they established stimulus equivalence classes and functional responding, respectively. Each experiment then used different tasks in the third phase to test differential responding. Only participants in Experiment II demonstrated consistent transfer of function. Results are discussed in terms of how task similarity may function as a type of contextual control when there is limited experience with the task.

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Holder, Jared M. "Learned Attention in Younger and Older Adults." TopSCHOLAR®, 2010. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/223.

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A relatively new phenomenon in learning research called highlighting occurs when participants show a seemingly irrational preference to attribute a stronger cue-outcome association to a later presented perfect predictor when it is paired with an imperfect predictor than that of an earlier presented perfect predictor paired with the same imperfect predictor (Kruschke, 1996). Current research suggests that the highlighting effect depends on the ability to learn to shift attention away from an irrelevant cue toward a more relevant cue in order to reduce errors in causal judgment and preserve an earlier formed association (Kruschke, 2003). Much research has suggested that older adults have difficulty disengaging attention from irrelevant information, which could be problematic in the highlighting procedure (Cohn, Dustman, & Bradford, 1984; Tipper, 1991; Mutter, Naylor, & Patterson, 2005). However, the results of the current experiment suggest that older adults can learn attentional shifts in order to guide associative learning and reduce errors in causal judgments. These data prove to be a problem for many models of associative learning (e.g., Mackintosh, 1975; Rescorla & Wagner, 1972; Van Hamme & Wasserman, 1994), but support a model proposed by Kruschke (2006).

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Reinforcement (Psychology) Discrimination learning'

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