In the field of stimulus generalization, an old yet unresolved discussion pertains to what extent stimulus misidentifications contribute to the pattern of conditioned responding. In this article, we perform cluster analysis on six datasets (four published datasets and two unpublished datasets, included N = 950) to examine the relationship between…

There is much evidence showing that the prospect of performance-contingent reward increases the usage of cuing information and cognitive stability. In a recent study, we showed that participants under reward conditions even continued using cues even when they were no longer predictive of the required response rule, even at the expense of higher…

When subjects learn to associate two sample durations with two comparison keys, do they learn to associate the keys with the short and long samples (relational hypothesis), or with the specific sample durations (absolute hypothesis)? We exposed 16 pigeons to an ABA design in which phases A and B corresponded to tasks using samples of 1 s and 4 s,…

The problem investigated was the relationship between cognitive category width and certain other cognitive and perceptual variables, with the intent of gaining additional insight into the effect which individual differences in cognitive conceptualization exert on certain other behaviors. Cognitive category width, defined as the score obtained on…

The generalization of acquired competencies, specifically flexibility of closure, was the subject of this research. Flexibility of closure was defined as the ability to demonstrate selective attention to a specified set of elements when presented within various settings (the larger the number of settings from which the desired set of elements can…

The influence of frequency of occurrence of a visual stimulus on encoding processes is investigated, to discover what mechanisms allow cognitive processes to modify perceptual processes. Six experiments are described and the results are discussed. (MH)

Working from a rationale derived from cognitive learning theory, this study was designed to investigate the extent to which the formation and modifiability of first impressions may be affected by the perceiver's tendency to associate the stimulus person with some other individual. Fifty subjects rated their initial attractions toward male and…

Kindergarten and first grade children were trained to choose the middle-sized stimulus in either a single stimulus set or in each of two nonoverlapping stimulus sets. Findings were reported in terms of the assumption that cognitive processes are important in the intermediate-sized transposition paradigm. (Author/DB)

A model of informational interaction between teachers and learners has been developed and the first facet for its taxonomy derived. The model focuses on the internal cognitive events of teaching and learning in human beings generally, rather than on the specific roles of instructor and student. Teacher-learner communication is described in terms…

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of age differences and differences in memory load on concept identification (CI) tasks of varying levels of complexity. Previous studies with young children found increasingly better performance on CI tasks with increasing age. This was in part due to the fact that older subjects categorize…

The term, "schema," used largely as a descriptive convenience rather than a theoretical guidepost in social psychology is examined through an analysis of its development, function, and structure. This paper articulates a model of schema development in adults by defining a schema as a representation of some stimulus domain and a set of…

This investigation compares overt judgments about tenable hypotheses to choices in a concept identification task, as a function of stimulus similarity on successive trials. Two mathematical models are tested: (a) A 1-element local consistency version of Restle's concept identification model and (b) the same model with two additional passive states…