Effects of directional and neutral category labels in bidimensional rule-learning problems

Neumann, Paul G.

doi:10.3758/bf03198142

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The color labels Blue and Green probably represent the presence of two different outcome events rather than a polar psychological dichotomy based on presence versus absence (as would be the case for Blue vs. Not Blue). Neumann (1974) has given a different interpretation to a similar finding. He compared the speed with which subjects partitioned stimulus displays as a function of whether the rule they were using was designated by neutral labels or by directional labels based on the presence versus absence of an outcome (i.e., a primary rule [cf.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The feature-positive effect in adult human subjects.

Newman

Wolff²,

Hearst³

1980

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory

161

141

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Previous experiments with animals and young children have shown that discriminations based on the presence versus absence of a single feature are learned more easily when the feature appears on reinforced rather than nonreinforced displays. Six experiments demonstrated an analogous effect in college students, across a range of stimulus materials, general procedures, kinds of feedback, pacing of trials, and instructions to the subject. The results were analyzed in terms of the exceptionally strong control of behavior by events that are present on positive trials. These findings have implications for theoretical interpretations of human concept learning and decision making, and offer additional examples of the difficulty organisms experience in using "nonoccurrence" as a cue. Sainsbury (1969, 1970) used the term feature-positive effect (FPE) to describe a surprising asymmetry they observed in the pigeon's learning of discriminations based on the presence versus absence of a single distinguishing feature. When the feature was located on the positive, food-reinforced display (S+), subjects showed far superior discriminative performance than did subjects for which the feature appeared on the negative, nonreinforced display (S-). As a concrete example, consider a discrimination in which all of the trials involve the illumination of a response key, but on half of the trials a small black dot is present somewhere on the key and on half of the trials it is not. If trials with the dot constitute the S+ condition, and trials without the dot constitute the S-condition (i.e., the feature appears on positive trials [FP]), pigeons acquire a discrimination be-

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