Contributions of procedure and stimulus learning to early, rapid perceptual improvements.

Improvements in performance on many perceptual skills can occur with only a single training session. Of interest here is what aspects of the training experience are being learned during this brief exposure. Although there is considerable evidence that learning associated with specific feature values of the stimulus used in training (stimulus learning) contributes to these rapid improvements, there has been little direct investigation of the possibility that other types of learning do so as well. Here the authors show that not only stimulus learning but also learning of more general aspects of the training experience (procedure learning) contributed to rapid improvements in performance on interaural time difference discrimination. However, practice on the type of judgment to be made did not appear to aid performance (no task learning). These results are consistent with physiological reports that different neural mechanisms are engaged at different time points during even a brief training session, and imply that the circuits that are engaged and likely modified vary in the degree of their selectivity to the target condition. Such changes presumably enable further learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Television and the teacher.

"Television is a marvelous electronic device but it has not yet become an educational instrument." "In spite of all that may be said against it, television has a peculiar capacity for intimacy." "It may become the arm of teaching, but not the brain. Teaching and learning are human processes, not electronic processes." "Television teaching is a team job." Studio teacher and classroom teacher function together as a teaching team; curriculum planning and studio production must go hand in hand. TV can provide better in-service teacher training; through TV the teaching supervisor or training director can visit the class room. "Right now educational television needs to have some creative imagination applied to it. The chi squares can come laterp" (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hyperspecificity in Visual Implicit Learning: Learning of Spatial Layout Is Contingent on Item Identity.

Humans conduct visual search faster when the same display is presented for a 2nd time, showing implicit learning of repeated displays. This study examines whether learning of a spatial layout transfers to other layouts that are occupied by items of new shapes or colors. The authors show that spatial context learning is sometimes contingent on item identity. For example, when the training session included some trials with black items and other trials with white items, learning of the spatial layout became specific to the trained color--no transfer was seen when items were in a new color during testing. However, when the training session included only trials in black (or white), learning transferred to displays with a new color. Similar results held when items changed shapes after training. The authors conclude that implicit visual learning is sensitive to trial context and that spatial context learning can be identity contingent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of analytical information concerning task requirements to increase the effectiveness of skill training.

How can complex tasks in training be related to student ability in such a way that time is an improved application of theory to practice? 324 university students, divided into 3 groups, were engaged in learning how to stay on a target appearing on a radar picture tube. In this tracking they manipulated aircraft type controls. The experimental group of 60 students was given a usual type of training program, plus "standard instructions derived from the analysis of task requirements." This group showed superiority throughout the course of practice. "… changes in learning occurred… rather than just changes in performance." From Psyc Abstracts 36:05:5LE95P. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New Semantic Learning and Generalization in a Patient With Amnesia.

New learning of semantic information is impaired in amnesia. Several reports have demonstrated that "errorless" learning techniques have allowed patients with amnesia to acquire at least some form of new semantic information, although this information appears to be relatively inflexible. Using insights and principles from connectionist modeling of cortical and medial temporal lobe memory systems, the authors describe why errorless learning procedures act as a poor proxy for the medial temporal lobe, suggesting that they artificially eliminate the variability that defines semantic information. The authors trained a patient with severe amnesia on new semantic sentences both with and without variance and then tested him on both repeated and related novel sentences to assess generalization. He successfully learned new semantic information in both conditions but demonstrated better generalization of semantic concepts following training with variance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training devices and simulators: some research issues.

An attempt "to describe and clarify some research issues which occur in connection with the development, uses, and evaluation of training devices." An analysis of the use of training devices indicates that they have two functions: performance measurement in which the important characteristics are reliability and validity, and performance improvement in which the important characteristic is the degree of transfer of learning to the operational task. 32 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does Training on Self-Regulated Learning Facilitate Students' Learning With Hypermedia?

The authors examined the effectiveness of self-regulated learning (SRL) training in facilitating college students' learning with hypermedia. Undergraduate students (N = 131) were randomly assigned to either a training condition or a control condition and used a hypermedia environment to learn about the circulatory system. Students in the SRL group were given a 30-min training session on the use of specific, empirically based SRL variables designed to foster their conceptual understanding; control students received no training. Pretest, posttest, and verbal protocol data were collected from both groups. The SRL condition facilitated the shift in learners' mental models significantly more than did the control condition; verbal protocol data indicated that this was associated with the use of the SRL variables taught during training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition of automatic imitation is sensitive to sensorimotor contingency.

The associative sequence learning model proposes that the development of the mirror system depends on the same mechanisms of associative learning that mediate Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning. To test this model, two experiments used the reduction of automatic imitation through incompatible sensorimotor training to assess whether mirror system plasticity is sensitive to contingency (i.e., the extent to which activation of one representation predicts activation of another). In Experiment 1, residual automatic imitation was measured following incompatible training in which the action stimulus was a perfect predictor of the response (contingent) or not at all predictive of the response (noncontingent). A contingency effect was observed: There was less automatic imitation indicative of more learning in the contingent group. Experiment 2 replicated this contingency effect and showed that, as predicted by associative learning theory, it can be abolished by signaling trials in which the response occurs in the absence of an action stimulus. These findings support the view that mirror system development depends on associative learning and indicate that this learning is not purely Hebbian. If this is correct, associative learning theory could be used to explain, predict, and intervene in mirror system development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of behavioural outcome goals, learning goals, and urging people to do their best on an individual's teamwork behaviour in a group problem-solving task.

States that research has shown that learning goals are superior to outcome goals on complex tasks. The effectiveness of behavioral outcome goals (set using behavioral observation scales), learning goals, and urging people to do their best was examined in the context of a training program designed to improve an individual's teamwork behavior in a group problem-solving task. 50 participants (mean age 25.3 yrs) who set behavioral or learning goals had higher self-efficacy relative to those urged to "do their best". Self-efficacy correlated positively with teamwork behavior and goal commitment. Behavioral goals were superior to learning goals and being urged to "do your best" in bringing about teamwork behavior. These findings suggest that behavioral outcome goals may mitigate the need for learning goals on complex tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Place Versus Response Learning Revisited: Tests of Blocking on the Radial Maze.

Neurobiological and behavioral research indicates that place learning and response learning occur simultaneously, in parallel. Such findings seem to conflict with theories of associative learning in which different cues compete for learning. The authors conducted place + response training on a radial maze and then tested place learning and response learning separately by reconfiguring the maze in various ways. Consistent with the effects of manipulating place and response systems in the brain (M. G. Packard & J. L. McGaugh, 1996), well-trained rats showed strong place learning and strong response learning. Three experiments using associative blocking paradigms indicated that prior response learning interferes with place learning. Blocking and related tests can be used to better understand how memory systems interact during learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning the spelling of strange words in Dutch benefits from regularized reading.

In 2 experiments, the authors tested the effect of 2 types of reading on the spelling memory of strange or sound-spelling inconsistent words in Dutch students with and without learning disabilities: standard reading and regularized reading. Standard reading refers to reading the word the way it has to be read. Regularized reading refers to reading a sound-spelling inconsistent word as if it is sound-spelling consistent. In Experiment 1, both groups showed a short-term effect. Shortly after training, all students who participated in the regularized-reading condition showed better spelling performance than students who took part in a standard-reading condition. One week after training, spelling knowledge of students without learning disabilities appeared to be more stable than that of students with learning disabilities. In Experiment 2, only students with learning disabilities participated. The results reveal that more training substantially enhanced spelling performance in the long term, and repetition of the regularized word was even more effective. A recurrent network account served as the guiding principle to explain the results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Same/different abstract-concept learning by pigeons.

Eight pigeons were trained and tested in a simultaneous same/different task. After pecking an upper picture, they pecked a lower picture to indicate same or a white rectangle to indicate different. Increases in the training set size from 8 to 1,024 items produced improved transfer from 51.3% to 84.6%. This is the first evidence that pigeons can perform a two-item same/different task as accurately with novel items as training items and both above 80% correct. Fixed-set control groups ruled out training time or transfer testing as producing the high level of abstract-concept learning. Comparisons with similar experiments with rhesus and capuchin monkeys showed that the ability to learn the same/different abstract concept was similar but that pigeons require more training exemplars. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mechanisms of same-different abstract-concept learning by rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

Experiments with 9 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) showed, for the first time, that abstract-concept learning varied with the training stimulus set size. In a sameldifferent task, monkeys required to touch a top picture before choosing a bottom picture (same) or white rectangle (different) learned rapidly. Monkeys not required to touch the top picture or presented with the top picture for a fixed time learned slowly or not at all. No abstract-concept learning occurred after 8-itern training but progressively improved with larger set sizes and was complete following 128-itern training. A control monkey with a constant 8-item set ruled out repeated training and testing. Contrary to the unique-species account, it is argued that different species have quantitative, not qualitative, differences in abstract-concept learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Military training and principles of learning.

"If I were faced with the problem of improving training, I should not look for much help from the well-known learning principles like reinforcement, distribution of practice, response familiarity, and so on. I should look instead at the technique of task analysis and at the principles of component task achievement, intratask transfer, and the sequencing of subtask learning to find those ideas of greatest usefulness in the design of effective training." Major sections are: Some Representative Military Tasks, Learning, Principles, Using These Assumptions and Principles in Training Design, What Is Applicable to the Design of Training? and Summary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Abstract Analogies and Positive Transfer in Artificial Grammar Learning.

Following Brooks and Vokey (1991), we show that positive transfer to new items generated from an artificial grammar in which the vocabulary has been changed from training to test can be based on "abstract analogy" to specific training items (specific similarity) rather than abstraction of a grammar and symbol remapping rules, even with remapping unique to each test item. The results confirm that transcendence over symbols provides no support for the implicit learning of abstract structure. Ironically, they also show that the effect of specific similarity does not depend on surface characteristics of the items, but the residual effect of grammaticality does. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transfer between instrument and contact flight training.

22 Ss were taught two flight maneuvers (straight and level flight and turns) under both visual contact and instruments-only conditions. Contact training took significantly fewer trials to learn. However, transfer from contact to instruments was -22%, while transfer in the other direction was +47%. "The results confirm indications from previous studies that these instruments involve learning habits which are incompatible with population stereotypes. Implications for training and for instrument design are discussed." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Selective corticostriatal dysfunction in schizophrenia: Examination of motor and cognitive skill learning": Correction to Foerde et al. (2008).

Reports an error in "Selective corticostriatal dysfunction in schizophrenia: Examination of motor and cognitive skill learning" by Karin Foerde, Russell A. Poldrack, Barbara J. Knowlton, Fred W. Sabb, Susan Y. Bookheimer, Robert M. Bilder, Don Guthrie, Eric Granholm, Keith H. Nuechterlein, Stephen R. Marder and Robert F. Asarnow (Neuropsychology, 2008[Jan], Vol 22[1], 100-109). The DOI for the supplemental materials was printed incorrectly. The correct DOI is as follows: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0894-4105.22.1.100.supp. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-00382-011.) It has been suggested that patients with schizophrenia have corticostriatal circuit dysfunction (Carlsson & Carlsson, 1990). Skill learning is thought to rely on corticostriatal circuitry and different types of skill learning may be related to separable corticostriatal loops (Grafton, Hazeltine, & Ivry, 1995; Poldrack, Prabhakaran, Seger, & Gabrieli, 1999). The authors examined motor (Serial Reaction Time task, SRT) and cognitive (Probabilistic Classification task, PCT) skill learning in patients with schizophrenia and normal controls. Development of automaticity was examined, using a dual task paradigm, across three training sessions. Patients with schizophrenia were impaired at learning on the PCT compared to controls. Performance gains of controls occurred within the first session, whereas patients only improved gradually and never reached the performance level of controls. In contrast, patients were not impaired at learning on the SRT relative to controls, suggesting that patients with schizophrenia may have dysfunction in a specific corticostriatal subcircuit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of altering task components on perceptual-motor task learning.

In training operators of man-machine systems, how will altering the task influence learning progress at various stages in this sequence? After trying it out in a pilot study, the main experiment involved 108 male soldiers. "The apparatus consisted of an electronic compensatory tracking device which required S to maintain a target indicator in the center of a 5-in. oscilloscope… . Time on target was the primary measure of performance." A temporary decrement in performance was produced from altering task components later in learning. Greater effect followed from changes taking place earlier. 16 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Altered probabilistic learning and response biases in schizophrenia: Behavioral evidence and neurocomputational modeling.

Objective: Patients with schizophrenia (SZ) show reinforcement learning impairments related to both the gradual/procedural acquisition of reward contingencies, and the ability to use trial-to-trial feedback to make rapid behavioral adjustments. Method: We used neurocomputational modeling to develop plausible mechanistic hypotheses explaining reinforcement learning impairments in individuals with SZ. We tested the model with a novel Go/NoGo learning task in which subjects had to learn to respond or withhold responses when presented with different stimuli associated with different probabilities of gains or losses in points. We analyzed data from 34 patients and 23 matched controls, characterizing positive- and negative-feedback-driven learning in both a training phase and a test phase. Results: Consistent with simulations from a computational model of aberrant dopamine input to the basal ganglia patients, patients with SZ showed an overall increased rate of responding in the training phase, together with reduced response-time acceleration to frequently rewarded stimuli across training blocks, and a reduced relative preference for frequently rewarded training stimuli in the test phase. Patients did not differ from controls on measures of procedural negative-feedback-driven learning, although patients with SZ exhibited deficits in trial-to-trial adjustments to negative feedback, with these measures correlating with negative symptom severity. Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis that patients with SZ have a deficit in procedural “Go” learning, linked to abnormalities in DA transmission at D1-type receptors, despite a “Go bias” (increased response rate), potentially related to excessive tonic dopamine. Deficits in trial-to-trial reinforcement learning were limited to a subset of patients with SZ with severe negative symptoms, putatively stemming from prefrontal cortical dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Long-term abstract learning of attentional set.

How does past experience influence visual search strategy (i.e., attentional set)? Recent reports have shown that, when given the option to use 1 of 2 attentional sets, observers persist with the set previously required in a training phase. Here, 2 related questions are addressed. First, does the training effect result only from perseveration with the currently active set or from long-term learning? Experiment 1 supported the latter alternative: When training and test were separated by up to 1 week, to prevent perseveration across the 2 sessions, the training effect was still obtained. Second, is the learning feature-specific (tuned to a precise set of colors) or more abstract? Experiments 2 and 3 supported the latter: When stimulus colors were switched between training and test to remove the possibility of feature-specific learning, the training effect again was obtained. These experiments indicate that attentional set is largely guided by long-term abstract learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)