Department
of Psychology
Indiana
University,
Bloomington
BEHAVIOR SYSTEMS
AND
LEARNING LAB (BSL)
Welcome
ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING
We have taken two short-cuts in studying these niche-related forms of learning by relating our study to the work of previous laboratory experimenters. In our view, the experimental learning paradigms researchers have designed are effective in large part because they engage the evolved systems and niche-related mechanisms for a species. Variants of Pavlovian-like procedures in which a stimulus or the passage of time predicts the availability of reward with different probabilities are particularly effective at revealing these mechanisms because the experiment can manipulate what emerges without specifically shaping the response of the organism. As a result the form and vigor of the response may more clearly inform us about an animal’s repertoire than if we designed and required a specific response. (However, as an aside). It seems clear that good experimenters using operant techniques typically ask the animal to do things that are within the repertoire of the animal. We make no distinction between research that examines cognitive and behavioral mechanisms; both influence outcomes and are typically involved in the niche-related mechanisms that we try to study. Below are several areas of research we are currently involved in.
Focal and General Search Mechanisms in Pavlovian Temporal Conditioning
We are working on the contribution of focal and general search mechanisms to a variety of temporal learning phenomena, including: Cue Validity (especially partial reinforcement), Backward Conditioning, Preconditioning of Temporal “Maps,” and Conditioned Inhibition. Our interest is in relating paradigms of Pavlovian conditioning to systems of behavior to clarify the nature of the learning that occurs, and how it relates to the different components of a behavior system.
Superstition Re-revisited
In 1948, Skinner described the actions of pigeons under fixed-time (FT) schedules, where food is delivered independent of any particular action. Skinner hypothesized that the behaviors occurring immediately prior to the delivery of food were reinforced, and therefore more likely to occur in the future, even though the following food item was not dependent on that particular behavior (and therefore, "superstitious"). He also described a number of behaviors, presumably arbitrary, that were idiosyncratic across a number of pigeons. In later years, both Staddon and Simmelhag (1971) and Timberlake and Lucas (1985) further examined this phenomenon, and found that the behaviors were not idiosyncratic, and were closely tied to the eliciting action of food. We're currently examining this phenomena to further piece apart the function of these behaviors. Some of our current manipulations include the effects of extinction interspersed between FT schedules, comparing large vs. small experimental boxes, examining differences in male vs. female pigeons, differences in behaviors when chickens are run on the same FT schedules, and effects of similar variable-time (VT) schedules.
-Note: There are notes below some of the pages.
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