Perceptual and Associative Learning

ISBN-13: 9780198521822 / Angielski / Twarda / 1992 / 312 str.

Nancy Coffelt; Geoffrey Hall; G. Hall

Opis

Traditional theories of associative learning have found no place for the possibility that an individual's perception of events might change as a result of experience. Evidence for the reality of perceptual learning has come from procedures unlike those studied by learning theorists. The work reviewed in this book shows that learned changes in perceptual organization can in fact be demonstrated, even in experiments using procedures (such as conditioning and simple discrimination learning) which form the basis of associative theories. These results come from procedures that have been the focus of detailed theoretical and empirical analysis; and from this analysis emerges an outline of the mechanisms responsible. Some of these are associative, others require the addition of nonassociative mechanisms to the traditional theory. The result is an extended version of associative theory which, it is argued, will be relevant not only to the experimental procedures discussed in this book but to the entire range of instances of perceptual learning. For psychologists interested in the basic mechanisms of conditioning, perception, and learning, this volume provides an up-to-date, critical review of the field.

Recenzje

The book is valuable because readers are introduced to contemporary associative theory and its continual refinement within well-researched experimental paradigms. Hall's book is valuable because of its rigorous analysis of issues surrounding the relationship between experience with stimuli and later associative learning. The book succeeds in linking together many important ideas from seemingly disparate theoretical approaches. For this reason, the book is clearly relevant to learning theorists. Because of the central role of perceptual and associative learning in cognitive and behavioral processes, it should also interest developmental psychologists.

Spis treści

Associative theory and the phenomena of perceptual learning; Habituation; Latent inhibition as reduced associability; Latent inhibition as associative interference; Acquired distinctiveness: mediation and differentiation; Acquired distinctiveness: attentional factors; Discrimination after stimulus exposure; Learning and the modification of stimulus representations; References; Indexes.