PDF pending restoration
ERIC Number: ED091059
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1970
Pages: 23
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Transfer from a Classically Conditioned to an Instrumentally Learned Response.
Whitman, Thomas L.; Taub, Susan Ilene
The present experiments investigated the effects of several classical conditioning manipulations on the performance of young children in an instrumental discrimination learning situation. Two predictions from general conditioning-extinction theory were tested: (1) acquisition of an instrumental response to a stimulus for a positive reinforcer in a successive discrimination task situation should be facilitated if that same stimulus has been previously classically paired with a positive reinforcer; and (2) acquisition of an instrumental response to a stimulus should be inhibited if an incorrect stimulus in an identical successive discrimination task has been prepared classically with a positive reinforcer. Using first grade and nursery school children, the first prediction was generally confirmed. In contrast to expectation, the procedure described in the second prediction facilitated instrumental learning. Results were discussed within the context of House and Zeaman's attentional theory of learning and Kendler and Kendler's research on the reversal shift phenomenon. (Author)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A