Transfer of control between causal predictive judgments and instrumental responding.

Full Abstract

Four experiments were conducted to explore outcome-specific transfer from causal predictive judgments to instrumental responding. A video game was designed in which participants had to defend Andalusia from navy and air force attacks. First, they learned the relationship between two instrumental responses (two key on a standard keyboard) and two different outcomes (destruction of the ships or destruction of the planes). Then they learned to predict which of two different stimuli predicted which outcome. Finally, they had the opportunity of making either of the two instrumental responses in the presence of either stimulus. Transfer was shown as a preference for the response that shared an outcome with the current stimulus. The presentation of the stimulus during the test produced a decrease in the overall rate of response. Responding to a neutral stimulus in Experiments 2 and 3 suggested that this overall decrease in responding was due to a combination of the time needed to process the meaning of the stimulus and the activation of the representation of the outcome in the presence of the stimulus during the test. Transfer between predictive judgments and instrumental responding mirrors the outcome-specific Pavlovian instrumental transfer observed in conditioning studies with rats.

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Author information

Author/s: Paredes-Olay, Concepción (C); Abad, María J F (MJ); Gámez, Matías (M); Rosas, Juan M (JM);

Affiliation: Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain. cparedes(-atsign-)ujaen.es

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Animal learning & behavior (Anim Learn Behav), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Aug; vol 30 (issue 3) : pp 239-48

Dates: Created 2002/10/23; Completed 2002/11/19; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12391790, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Forecasting
Humans
Judgment
Learning
Male

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