Value transfer in a simultaneous discrimination appears to result from within-event Pavlovian conditioning.

Zentall, Thomas R.; Sherburne, Lou M.; Roper, Karen L.; Kraemer, Philipp J.

doi:10.1037/0097-7403.22.1.68

Cited by 28 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(17 reference statements)

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“…Leary interpreted his results as evidence that an S becomes attractive through generalization of the excitatory tendency of the S with which it appears. If we broadly interpret such generalization to include the mechanisms proposed to underlie value transfer (Zentall, Sherburne, et al, 1996), Leary's data may very well have arisen from the same processes contributing to the present results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Value transfer contributes to ambiguous-cue discrimination learning

Urcuioli

Michalek

2007

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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Pigeons learned two concurrent simultaneous discriminations in which the S for one served as the S for the other. When all correct choices were reinforced, accuracy on the former (positive vs. ambiguous-cue or PA) discrimination was lower than on the latter (negative vs. ambiguous-cue or NA) discrimination. When correct choices on the PA discrimination were intermittently reinforced, however, pigeons chose the S more often than the S on those trials. By contrast, intermittently reinforcing correct choices on the NA discrimination did not affect NA-trial accuracy but yielded higher PA-trial accuracy relative to continuous reinforcement. Together with a separate preference assessment, these results indicate that value transfer, in which some of the positive value accrued by an S transfers to its companion S , contributes to ambiguous-cue performances.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Value transfer contributes to ambiguous-cue discrimination learning

Urcuioli

Michalek

2007

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

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“…However, the mechanism responsible for the transfer of value from the S+ to the Sis not well understood. Zentall et al (1996) suggest that direct, S--US (trace) conditioning could not be responsible for value transfer because it cannot account for the fact that altering the value of the S+ by itself, following S+S-discrimination training, has a corresponding effect on S-. Furthermore, their finding that altering the value of the S-by itself following S+S-discrimination training had a corresponding effect on S+suggests that higher order conditioning is not the defining mechanism.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, Zentall et al (1996) proposed that within-event conditioning might be involved in value transfer. However, within-event conditioning is not consistent with the results of the present experiments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Value transfer in a simultaneous discrimination by pigeons: The value of the S+ is not specific to the simultaneous discrimination context

Dorrance

Kaiser

Zentall

1998

Animal Learning & Behavior

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During simultaneous discrimination training, there is evidence that some of the value of the S+ transfers to the S-. When the value ofthe S+ is altered outside the context of the simultaneous discrimination, two very different predictions are made concerning its effect on its S-, depending on whether one views the S+ as an occasion setter or as a stimulus capable of transferring value. In four experiments, pigeons were trained with two similar simultaneous discriminations, A+B-and C+D-, and two singlestimulus trial types, A and C, (in which A always had greater nominal value than C). According to value transfer theory, on test trials, B should always be preferred over D, because B and D should be affected by the net values of Aand C, respectively. According to an occasion setting account, however, D should be preferred over B because the presence of D signals a higher probability of reinforcement for responding to C than when C is alone, and/or the presence of B signals a lower probability of reinforcement for responding to A than when A is alone. In all four experiments, the pigeons preferred B over D, a result consistent with value transfer theory. Thus, an S-can acquire value from an S+ even when that value is conditioned in a "context" different from that of the simultaneous discrimination.

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“…If the CS 2 derived its association with the US through the CS 1 , then following the devaluation of the CS 1 , there should be little evidence for CS 2 conditioning.If, however, the CS 2 was directly associated with the US during conditioning, one still should find evidence of a CS 2 -US association. Zentall, Sherburne, Roper, and Kraemer (1996) tested these hypotheseswith the design used by Zentall and Sherburne (1994). In Zentall, Sherburne, et al (1996, Experiment 1), pigeons were first trained on two simultaneous discriminations (A 100 B 0 and C 50 D 0 ).…”

Section: Higher Order Conditioning or Direct Conditioning?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous discrimination learning: Stimulus interactions

Zentall

Clement

2001

Animal Learning & Behavior

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Stimulus Similarity EffectsThe degree of physical similarity between the S1 and the S during the acquisition of a discrimination has played an important role in theories of discrimination learning (see, e.g., Lawrence, 1955;Logan, 1966;Spence, 1937). By making certain assumptions-(1) that the excitatory strength of the S1 is greater than the inhibitory strength of the S ; (2) that the shape of the generalization gradient is concave downward; and (3) that the net effect can be represented by the algebraic summation of the two (i.e., excitation minus inhibition)-Spence was able to 311Copyright 2001 Psychonomic Society, Inc.Preparation of this article was supported by Grants MH55118 and MH59194 from the National Institute of Mental Health to T.R.Z. We thank Lou M. Sherburne, Brigette R. Dorrance, Janice E. Weaver, Daren H. Kaiser, and Andrea M. Lonon for their contribution to the research described here and William Timberlake for his encouragement to prepare this article. Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to T. R. Zentall, Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506 (e-mail: zentall@pop.uky.edu). Simultaneous discrimination learning:Stimulus interactions THOMAS R. ZENTALL and TRICIA S. CLEMENT University of Kentucky, Lexington, KentuckyAlthough considerable attention has been given to interactions between events serving as the positive (S1) and negative (S ) stimuli in successive discriminations, there has been little study of similar interactions in simultaneous discriminations. We propose that in a simultaneous discrimination, given what is typically relatively little experience with the consequences of responding to the S , some of the value of the S1 transfers to the S with which it was paired. Furthermore, the mechanisms responsible for this transfer of value appear to be the higher order Pavlovian association between the S and the S1, as well as within-event associations between them. Although in typical simultaneous discriminations, negative value does not appear to transfer from the S to the S1, when adequate experience is provided with the S , contrast typically develops, reducing the value of the S (negative contrast) and enhancing the value of the S1 (positive contrast). This model of stimulus interactions has implications not only for simple simultaneous discrimination learning, but also for research using combinations of discriminations (e.g., transitive inference in animals and humans). This model may also have implications for a number of human social psychological phenomena.

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Value transfer in a simultaneous discrimination appears to result from within-event Pavlovian conditioning.

Cited by 28 publications

References 10 publications

Value transfer contributes to ambiguous-cue discrimination learning

Value transfer contributes to ambiguous-cue discrimination learning

Value transfer in a simultaneous discrimination by pigeons: The value of the S+ is not specific to the simultaneous discrimination context

Simultaneous discrimination learning: Stimulus interactions

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