title: A modular theory of learning and performance.
abstract: We describe a theory to account for the acquisition and extinction of response rate (conditioning) and pattern (timing). This modular theory is a development of packet theory (Kirkpatrick, 2002; Kirkpatrick & Church, 2003) that adds a distinction between pattern and strength memories, as well as contributing closed-form equations. We describe the theory using equations related to a flow diagram and illustrate it by an application to an experiment with repeated acquisitions and extinctions of a multiple-cued-interval procedure using rats. The parameter estimates for the theory were based on a calibration sample from the data, and the predictions for different measures of performance on a validation sample from the same data (cross-validation). The theory's predictions were similar to predictions based on the reliability of the behavior.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA. paulo_guilhardi@brown.edu
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Guilhardi
authors.forename: Linun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Russell M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Church
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D007858:Learning; D008124:Locomotion; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011582:Psychological Theory; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley