Theories of associative learning in animals.

Theories of associative learning are concerned with the factors that govern association formation when two stimuli are presented together. In this article we review the relative merits of the currently influential theories of associative learning. Some theories focus on the role of attention in association formation, but differ in the rules they propose for determining whether or not attention is paid to a stimulus. Other theories focus on the nature of the association that is formed, but differ as to whether this association is regarded as elemental, configural, or hierarchical. Recent developments involve modifications to existing theories in order to account for associative learning between two stimuli, A and B, when A is accompanied, not by B, but by a stimulus that has been paired with B. The implications of the theories for understanding how humans derive causal judgments and solve categorization problems is considered.

[1]  E. Thorndike.  “Animal Intelligence” , 1898, Nature.

[2]  Harold Gulliksen,et al.  A theory of learning and transfer: I , 1938 .

[3]  B. Skinner,et al.  Principles of Behavior , 1944 .

[4]  Frederick Mosteller,et al.  Stochastic Models for Learning , 1956 .

[5]  R. Lubow,et al.  Latent inhibition: the effect of nonreinforced pre-exposure to the conditional stimulus. , 1959, Journal of comparative and physiological psychology.

[6]  H. Chorazyna.  Some properties of conditioned inhibition. , 1962, Acta biologiae experimentalis.

[7]  Morton P. Friedman,et al.  Transfer effects in discrimination learning , 1964 .

[8]  B. Shepp,et al.  INTRADIMENSIONAL AND EXTRADIMENSIONAL SHIFTS IN THE RAT. , 1964, Journal of comparative and physiological psychology.

[9]  R. Rescorla.  Probability of shock in the presence and absence of CS in fear conditioning. , 1968, Journal of comparative and physiological psychology.

[10]  R. Rescorla.  Conditioned inhibition of fear resulting from negative CS-US contingencies. , 1969, Journal of comparative and physiological psychology.

[11]  N. Mackintosh,et al.  Intradimensional and extradimensional shift learning by pigeons , 1969 .

[12]  N. J. Mackintosh,et al.  An Analysis of Overshadowing and Blocking , 1971 .

[13]  R. Rescorla,et al.  A theory of Pavlovian conditioning : Variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement , 1972 .

[14]  R. Rescorla.  Effect of US habituation following conditioning. , 1973, Journal of comparative and physiological psychology.

[15]  N. Mackintosh.  A Theory of Attention: Variations in the Associability of Stimuli with Reinforcement , 1975 .

[16]  N. Mackintosh,et al.  Surprise and the attenuation of blocking. , 1976 .

[17]  J. Gibbon.  Scalar expectancy theory and Weber's law in animal timing. , 1977 .

[18]  R. Rescorla,et al.  Within-compound flavor associations. , 1978, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[19]  R. Bolles,et al.  Contextual control of the extinction of conditioned fear , 1979 .

[20]  M. Best,et al.  Disrupting the conditioned stimulus preexposure effect in flavor-aversion learning: effects of interoceptive distractor manipulations. , 1979, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[21]  J. Pearce,et al.  Latent inhibition of a CS during CS-US pairings. , 1979, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[22]  R. Rescorla,et al.  Within-compound associations in a variety of compound conditioning procedures , 1980 .

[23]  J. Pearce,et al.  A model for Pavlovian learning: variations in the effectiveness of conditioned but not of unconditioned stimuli. , 1980, Psychological review.

[24]  L. Allan.  A note on measurement of contingency between two binary variables in judgment tasks , 1980 .

[25]  A. R. Wagner,et al.  One-trial overshadowing: evidence of distributive processing. , 1980, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[26]  J. Pearce,et al.  A model for Pavlovian learning: Variations in the effectiveness of conditioned but not of unconditioned stimuli. , 1980 .

[27]  Norman E. Spear,et al.  The processing of memories : forgetting and retention , 1980 .

[28]  P. Holland,et al.  Conditioning of simultaneous and serial feature-positive discriminations , 1981 .

[29]  A G Barto,et al.  Toward a modern theory of adaptive networks: expectation and prediction. , 1981, Psychological review.

[30]  R. R. Miller,et al.  Associations to contextual stimuli as a determinant of long-term habituation. , 1981, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[31]  R. F. Westbrook,et al.  Short- and long-term decrements in toxicosis-induced odor-aversion learning: the role of duration of exposure to an odor. , 1981, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[32]  Peter C. Holland,et al.  Acquisition of Representation-Mediated Conditioned Food Aversions. , 1981 .

[33]  R. Bolles,et al.  A nonassociative aspect of overshadowing , 1981 .

[34]  Peter C. Holland,et al.  Representation-mediated extinction of conditioned flavor aversions , 1982 .

[35]  Ralph R. Miller,et al.  Latent inhibition of the conditioning context: Further evidence of contextual potentiation of retrieval in the absence of appreciable context-US associations , 1982 .

[36]  Ralph R. Miller,et al.  Blocking with a single compound trial , 1982 .

[37]  P. Mercier,et al.  Extinction of the context and latent inhibition , 1982 .

[38]  J. Pearce,et al.  Restoring the Associability of a Pre-Exposed CS by a Surprising Event , 1982 .

[39]  K. Hollis.  Pavlovian Conditioning of Signal-Centered Action Patterns and Autonomic Behavior: A Biological Analysis of Function , 1982 .

[40]  Peter C. Holland,et al.  Representation-mediated overshadowing and potentiation of conditioned aversions , 1983 .

[41]  Geoffrey Hall,et al.  Contextual effects in latent inhibition with an appetitive conditioning procedure , 1983 .

[42]  D. A. King,et al.  Contextual control of the extinction of conditioned fear: tests for the associative value of the context. , 1983, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[43]  A. Dickinson,et al.  Judgement of Act-Outcome Contingency: The Role of Selective Attribution , 1984 .

[44]  M. Bouton.  Differential control by context in the inflation and reinstatement paradigms. , 1984 .

[45]  P. Holland.  Differential effects of reinforcement of an inhibitory feature after serial and simultaneous feature negative discrimination training. , 1984, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[46]  G. Hall,et al.  A Search for Context-Stimulus Associations in Latent Inhibition , 1984 .

[47]  N. Mackintosh,et al.  Context specificity of conditioning, extinction, and latent inhibition. , 1984 .

[48]  Geoffrey Hall,et al.  Differential effects of contextual change on latent inhibition and on the habituation of an orienting response , 1985 .

[49]  T. Baker,et al.  Morphine tolerance as habituation. , 1985, Psychological review.

[50]  D. Shanks.  Forward and Backward Blocking in Human Contingency Judgement , 1985 .

[51]  D. A. King,et al.  Effect of context on performance to conditioned stimuli with mixed histories of reinforcement and nonreinforcement , 1986 .

[52]  Geoffrey E. Hinton,et al.  Learning internal representations by error propagation , 1986 .

[53]  Mark E. Bouton,et al.  Contextual control of negative transfer produced by prior CS-US pairings , 1986 .

[54]  P. Holland.  Transfer after Serial Feature Positive Discrimination Training , 1986 .

[55]  M. Bouton,et al.  Analysis of the associative and occasion-setting properties of contexts participating in a Pavlovian discrimination. , 1986 .

[56]  R. R. Miller,et al.  Associative effects of US preexposure: modulation of conditioned responding by an excitatory training context. , 1987, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[57]  J. Pearce.  A model for stimulus generalization in Pavlovian conditioning. , 1987, Psychological review.

[58]  P. Holland,et al.  Transfer of inhibition after serial feature negative discrimination training , 1987 .

[59]  N. Mackintosh,et al.  Context Specificity of Conditioning and Latent Inhibition: Evidence for a Dissociation of Latent Inhibition and Associative Interference , 1987 .

[60]  Ralph R. Miller,et al.  The comparator hypothesis: A response rule for the expression of associations. , 1988 .

[61]  G. Bower,et al.  From conditioning to category learning: an adaptive network model. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[62]  G. Bower,et al.  From conditioning to category learning: an adaptive network model. , 1988 .

[63]  J. Pearce,et al.  The orienting response as an index of stimulus associability in rats. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[64]  P. Holland.  Excitation and inhibition in unblocking. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[65]  P. Holland.  Occasion Setting With Simultaneous Compounds in Rats , 1989 .

[66]  Mark E. Bouton,et al.  Context effects on conditioning, extinction, and reinstatement in an appetitive conditioning preparation , 1989 .

[67]  N. Mackintosh,et al.  An associative theory of the representation of stimuli: Applications to perceptual learning and latent inhibition. , 1989 .

[68]  P. Holland.  Feature extinction enhances transfer of occasion setting , 1989 .

[69]  S. Siegel.  Pharmacological Conditioning and Drug Effects , 1989 .

[70]  P. Holland,et al.  Transfer of negative occasion setting and conditioned inhibition across conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. , 1989, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[71]  P. Holland.  Acquisition and transfer of conditional discrimination performance. , 1989 .

[72]  Michael McCloskey,et al.  Catastrophic Interference in Connectionist Networks: The Sequential Learning Problem , 1989 .

[73]  A. R. Wagner,et al.  Evolution of a structured connectionist model of Pavlovian conditioning (AESOP). , 1989 .

[74]  P. Cheng,et al.  A probabilistic contrast model of causal induction. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[75]  Ralph R. Miller,et al.  Inflation of comparator stimuli following CS training , 1990 .

[76]  N. Mackintosh,et al.  A Change of Context can Enhance Performance of an Aversive but not of an Appetitive Conditioned Response , 1990, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[77]  G. Chapman,et al.  Cue interaction in human contingency judgment , 1990, Memory & cognition.

[78]  N. Mackintosh,et al.  Perceptual Learning in Flavour Aversion Conditioning , 1991, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[79]  Donald E. Broadbent,et al.  Output Buffer Storage and the Modality of Recall , 1991 .

[80]  Robert A. Rescorla,et al.  Associative Relations in Instrumental Learning: The Eighteenth Bartlett Memorial Lecture , 1991 .

[81]  D. Swartzentruber,et al.  Blocking between occasion setters and contextual stimuli. , 1991, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[82]  G. Chapman,et al.  Trial order affects cue interaction in contingency judgment. , 1991, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[83]  J. Pearce,et al.  Failure of excitatory conditioning to extinguish the influence of a conditioned inhibitor. , 1991 .

[84]  永福 智志.  The Organization of Learning , 2005, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[85]  R. Rescorla.  Separate reinforcement can enhance the effectiveness of modulators , 1991 .

[86]  M. Bouton,et al.  Context sensitivity of conditioned suppression following preexposure to the conditioned stimulus , 1992 .

[87]  J. Pearce,et al.  Restoration of the Orienting Response to a Light by a Change in its Predictive Accuracy , 1992 .

[88]  R. R. Miller,et al.  Responding to a conditioned stimulus depends on the current associative status of other cues present during training of that specific stimulus. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[89]  J. Kruschke,et al.  ALCOVE: an exemplar-based connectionist model of category learning. , 1992, Psychological review.

[90]  Michael R. Waldmann,et al.  Predictive and diagnostic learning within causal models: asymmetries in cue competition. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[91]  M. Bouton,et al.  Time and context effects on performance in a Pavlovian discrimination reversal , 1993 .

[92]  H. Lachnit,et al.  Positive and negative patterning in human classical skin conductance response conditioning , 1993 .

[93]  M. Bouton,et al.  A retrieval cue for extinction attenuates spontaneous recovery. , 1993, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[94]  F. Vallée-Tourangeau,et al.  Selective associations and causality judgments: Presence of a strong causal factor may reduce judgments of a weaker one. , 1993 .

[95]  M. Bouton.  Context, time, and memory retrieval in the interference paradigms of Pavlovian learning. , 1993, Psychological bulletin.

[96]  A. Dickinson.  CHAPTER 3 – Instrumental Conditioning , 1994 .

[97]  Douglas A. Williams,et al.  Configural and elemental strategies in predictive learning , 1994 .

[98]  R. Rescorla,et al.  Modulation of trained and extinguished stimuli by facilitators and inhibitors , 1994 .

[99]  J. Pearce.  Similarity and discrimination: a selective review and a connectionist model. , 1994, Psychological review.

[100]  M. Bouton,et al.  Renewal of extinguished responding in a second context , 1994 .

[101]  G. Hall,et al.  Occasion-Setting Training Renders Stimuli More Similar: Acquired Equivalence between the Targets of Feature-Positive Discriminations , 1994, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[102]  M. Fanselow.  Neural organization of the defensive behavior system responsible for fear , 1994, Psychonomic bulletin & review.

[103]  M. Bouton,et al.  Context-specificity of target versus feature inhibition in a feature-negative discrimination. , 1994, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[104]  E. Wasserman,et al.  Cue Competition in Causality Judgments: The Role of Nonpresentation of Compound Stimulus Elements , 1994 .

[105]  R. R. Miller,et al.  Assessment of the Rescorla-Wagner model. , 1995, Psychological bulletin.

[106]  J. Pearce,et al.  Stimulus Salience and Negative Patterning , 1995, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[107]  Geoffrey Hall,et al.  Perceptual learning in flavor aversion conditioning: Roles of stimulus comparison and latent inhibition of common stimulus elements☆ , 1995 .

[108]  Similarity and Discrimination Learning , 1995 .

[109]  D. Williams,et al.  Forms of inhibition in animal and human learning. , 1995, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[110]  R. R. Miller,et al.  Biological significance in forward and backward blocking: resolution of a discrepancy between animal conditioning and human causal judgment. , 1996, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[111]  A. Dickinson,et al.  Within Compound Associations Mediate the Retrospective Revaluation of Causality Judgements , 1996, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[112]  D. Shanks,et al.  Causal order does not affect cue selection in human associative learning , 1996, Memory & cognition.

[113]  Geoffrey Hall,et al.  Backward Sensory Preconditioning , 1996 .

[114]  Ralph R. Miller,et al.  Biological significance in forward and backward blocking: Resolution of a discrepancy between animal conditioning and human causal judgment , 1996 .

[115]  K. Hollis,et al.  Contemporary research on Pavlovian conditioning. A "new" functional analysis. , 1997, The American psychologist.

[116]  M. Bouton,et al.  Additivity of the effects of retention interval and context change on latent inhibition: toward resolution of the context forgetting paradox. , 1997, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[117]  Additivity of the effects of retention interval and context change on latent inhibition: toward resolution of the context forgetting paradox. , 1997, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[118]  J. Pearce,et al.  Some determinants of response summation , 1997 .

[119]  P. Cheng.  From covariation to causation: A causal power theory. , 1997 .

[120]  M. Bouton,et al.  The Effects of a Context Switch following Serial and Simultaneous Feature-Negative Discriminations☆ , 1997 .

[121]  R. Rescorla.  Summation: Assessment of a configural theory , 1997 .

[122]  Failure of inhibition by B over C after A+, AB-, ABC+ training. , 1997 .

[123]  Ralph R. Miller,et al.  The Role of Temporal Relationships in the Transfer of Conditioned Inhibition , 1998 .

[124]  Susan E. Brandon,et al.  Occasion setting: Influences of conditioned emotional responses and configural cues. , 1998 .

[125]  M. Bouton,et al.  Mechanisms of feature-positive and feature-negative discrimination learning in an appetitive conditioning paradigm. , 1998 .

[126]  R. R. Miller,et al.  The role of temporal relationships in the transfer of conditioned inhibition. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[127]  R. R. Miller,et al.  Overshadowing and latent inhibition counteract each other: support for the comparator hypothesis. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[128]  D. Shanks,et al.  FEATURE- AND RULE-BASED GENERALIZATION IN HUMAN ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING , 1998 .

[129]  J. Pearce,et al.  Some factors that determine the influence of a stimulus that is irrelevant to a discrimination , 1998 .

[130]  Justin A. Harris,et al.  Retroactive revaluation of an odor-taste association , 1998 .

[131]  David R. Shanks,et al.  Configural processes in human associative learning , 1998 .

[132]  M. Domjan.  Going Wild in The Laboratory: Learning about Species Typical Cues , 1998 .

[133]  D. Shanks,et al.  Resistance to interference in human associative learning: evidence of configural processing. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[134]  R. Murphy,et al.  Judging the Importance of Constant and Variable Candidate Causes: A Test of the Power PC Theory , 1998 .

[135]  E. Wasserman,et al.  Backward Blocking and Recovery from Overshadowing in Human Causal Judgement: The Role of Within-compound Associations , 1998, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[136]  David R. Shanks,et al.  Effects of Trial Order on Contingency Judgments: A Comparison of Associative and Probabilistic Contrast Accounts , 1998 .

[137]  N. Mackintosh,et al.  Simultaneous activation of the representations of absent cues results in the formation of an excitatory association between them. , 1998 .

[138]  C. Buhusi,et al.  A real-time theory of Pavlovian conditioning: Simple stimuli and occasion setters. , 1998 .

[139]  N. Schmajuk,et al.  Occasion setting: Associative learning and cognition in animals. , 1998 .

[140]  N. Schmajuk,et al.  Occasion setting: a neural network approach. , 1998, Psychological review.

[141]  R. C. Honey,et al.  Acquired relational equivalence: implications for the nature of associative structures. , 1998, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[142]  J. Pearce,et al.  The role of attention in the solution of conditional discriminations , 1998 .

[143]  A. G. Baker,et al.  Causal Induction in the Presence of a Perfect Negative Cue: Contrasting Predictions from Associative and Statistical Models , 1998 .

[144]  R. C. Honey,et al.  Acquired Relational Equivalence Between Contexts and Features , 1999 .

[145]  P. Holland.  Overshadowing and blocking as acquisition deficits: no recovery after extinction of overshadowing or blocking cues. , 1999, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[146]  J. Ayres,et al.  Blocked and overshadowed stimuli are weakened in their ability to serve as blockers and second-order reinforcers in Pavlovian fear conditioning. , 1999, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[147]  Douglas A. Williams,et al.  INFLUENCE OF PAST EXPERIENCE ON THE CODING OF COMPOUND STIMULI , 1999 .

[148]  Inhibition and facilitation by B over C after A+, AB-, and ABC+ training with multimodality stimulus combinations. , 1999 .

[149]  M. Fanselow.  Learning theory and neuropsychology: Configuring their disparate elements in the hippocampus. , 1999 .

[150]  Associative changes in elements and compounds when the other is reinforced. , 1999, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[151]  J. Pearce,et al.  Acquired distinctiveness is controlled by stimulus relevance not correlation with reward , 1999 .

[152]  M E Bouton,et al.  Stimulus generalization, context change, and forgetting. , 1999, Psychological bulletin.

[153]  Justin A. Harris,et al.  Contextual control over conditioned responding in an extinction paradigm. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[154]  M. Page,et al.  Connectionist modelling in psychology: A localist manifesto , 2000, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[155]  W. P. Jordan,et al.  Contextual control of long-term habituation in rats. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes.

[156]  J. Ayres,et al.  Conditioned inhibition training of the competing cue after compound conditioning does not reduce cue competition , 2000 .

[157]  Michael R. Waldmann,et al.  Competition among causes but not effects in predictive and diagnostic learning. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[158]  D. Shanks,et al.  Is causal induction based on causal power? Critique of Cheng (1997). , 2000, Psychological review.

[159]  C. Gallistel,et al.  Time, rate, and conditioning. , 2000, Psychological review.

[160]  A. Dickinson,et al.  Super-learning of Causal Judgements , 2000, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. B, Comparative and physiological psychology.

[161]  S. Mineka,et al.  A modern learning theory perspective on the etiology of panic disorder. , 2001, Psychological review.

[162]  Theories of associative learning in , 2001 .

[163]  A. Bandura.  Social cognitive theory: an agentic perspective. , 1999, Annual review of psychology.

[164]  R. Rosenthal,et al.  Meta-analysis: recent developments in quantitative methods for literature reviews. , 2001, Annual review of psychology.

[165]  C. R.,et al.  Contextual Effects in Conditioning , Latent Inhibition , and Habituation : Associative and Retrieval Functions of Contextual Cues , 2001 .