The human brain is a flexible information processing system. Across a range of simple and complex tasks, such as walking across the street to playing basketball, the brain transforms sensory information from the environment into corresponding motor actions. This sensory input to motor output transformation likely requires a sequence of complex…

In their seminal study of chess expertise, Simon and Chase (Chase & Simon, 1973; Simon & Chase, 1973) proposed that perceptual learning was a necessary component of skill acquisition. In their view, acquisition of skill results from the strategic use of learning at multiple levels to adaptively overcome inherent limitations. The knowledge…

The orbitofrontal cortex (OBFc) has been suggested to code the motivational value of environmental stimuli and to use this information for the flexible guidance of goal-directed behavior. To examine whether information regarding reward prediction is quantitatively represented in the rat OBFc, neural activity was recorded during an olfactory…

Olfactory discrimination (OD) learning consists of two phases: an initial N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor--sensitive rule-learning phase, followed by an NMDA receptor (NMDAR)--insensitive pair-learning phase. The rule-learning phase is accompanied by changes in the composition and function of NMDARs at synapses in the piriform cortex,…

A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE WHETHER PEOPLE CAN CHANGE THEIR PERCEPTUAL PROCESSING STRATEGIES TO INCLUDE TESTS FOR THE PRESENCE OF ONLY THOSE STIMULUS FEATURES NECESSARY FOR THE TASK AT HAND. LEARNING DURING PRACTICE AND THE EFFECT OF AGE ON THE ABILITY TO USE OPTIMAL STRATEGIES WERE INVESTIGATED. A DISJUNCTIVE REACTION TIME PROCEDURE WAS…

Sixty mentally retarded children (mean chronological age 19.4 years, mean mental age 5.2 years) were analyzed on their discrimination of 116 colored action pictures. (Author)

In the series of experiments supported by this grant, some fundamental characteristics of the concept of attention were explored. The first experiments were based upon the assumption that attention is limited and consequently that adult subjects may only be able to perceive a fairly restricted portion of the stimuli available to them at any moment…

Perceptual motor development, habituation, and learning in squirrel monkeys were studied under controlled rearing and diet history conditions to determine whether the animal's level of behavioral development was similar to well-nourished animals of his own age (agemates) or his own size (sizemates). From birth to 8 weeks of age, the animals were…

Eighty-four nine year old children, twelve in each of seven experimental groups, learned a two-choice successive discrimination problem. The parameters that were systematically manipulated included: (1) immediate versus delayed reinforcement; and (2) forced preresponse stimulus exposure versus stimulus exposure during the delay interval,…

Reports that participants in a perceptual training program at the kindergarten level performed at a higher level than non-participants according to reading, arithmetic, and composite achievement scores obtained in grade three. (TO)

The presuppositions that favor firsthand experience over secondhand information, as pertaining to learning and education, are questioned. It is noted that, when education and firsthand experience are described as if equivalent, a presumption is made that a commonsense theory of knowledge and mind is valid. Research on the social psychology of…

The bibliography on learning in mentally handicapped persons is divided into the following topic categories: applied behavior change, classical conditioning, discrimination, generalization, motor learning, reinforcement, verbal learning, and miscellaneous. An author index is included. (KW)

This book is a compilation of literature and research concerning how children learn. The first chapter is a historical introduction to research in learning that summarizes the major developments of the last 100 years and relates these developments specifically to children's learning. The main body of the text is divided into six major topics: (1)…

This study examines the relationship between temperament characteristics and skill manifestations or deficits in two groups of kindergarten children, one in Ohio and one in Taipei, Taiwan. Its purposes were to determine if such a relationship did exist and, if so, to see if it obtained cross-culturally. Teachers and parents assessed children on…