Response strengthening by information and effect in human learning.

Information Processing by Performers and Observers in a Paired Associate Learning Task

“…In some studies, observers were superior to performers in correct responding at test trials (Hillix and Marx, 1960; Rosenbaum and Arenson, 1968;Eelen and d'Ydewalle, 1976), whereas the opposite was true in the study of Van Wagener and Travers (1963) and no differences were reported by Cheyne (1972) and Marx and Witter (1972). It seems fair to conclude that there is no general answer to the question which training procedure is most efficient.…”

“…More recently, learning within this classical procedure was compared to learning by subjects who were not required to respond overtly during the study trial (Hillix and Marx, 1960; Rosenbaum and Arenson, 1968;Marx and Witter, 1972; Eelen and d'Ydewalle, 1976). These subjects received equivalent information about responses and outcomes either by observing another subject perform the task or by receiving appropriate instructions from the experimenter.…”

“…Originally, the comparison between these training procedures was introduced as part of the long standing debate between a Thorndikian and a cognitive interpretation regarding the role of reinforcement in human learning (Hillix and Marx, 1960;Postman, 1962). Thorndike rewarding outcome has only an indirect effect in that it provides information which the subject stores and uses at a later time.…”

Transfer of rewarded responses in personality judgments

“…In the first experimental manipulation of the perform/observe variable, Hillix and Marx (1960), utilizing a transfer test, found some evidence that performers tended more than observers to return to old learned responses when attempting to solve new problems. Marx and Witter (1972) later found that performers were superior in recognizing full faces after having learned to identify parts of those faces.…”

Learning Theory: Some Revised Basic Laws and Concepts of Performance, Reward, and Punishment1

“…Several experiments testing the Law of Effect (e.g., Tolman et al, 1932;Hovland & Weiss, 1953;Bitterman, 1956;Hillix & Marx, 1960) have used information-receiving control groups in an attempt to separate the automatic "effect" of rewards from effects of infonnation that might be conveyed by the r evar-d s . The se experiments have had mixed findings so that it is difficult to integrate them with the present argument other than to note that they used "information" in a sense similar to the one used here--feedback concerning the efficiency or accuracy of performance.…”