title: Changes in attention to an irrelevant cue that accompanies a negative patterning [corrected] discrimination.
abstract: Pigeons were trained in two experiments with negative patterning discriminations that were accompanied by an irrelevant cue. For Experiment 1, the discriminations were of the form AX+ BX+ ABX-, where A and B were relevant, X was irrelevant, and + or - indicate whether or not reinforcement was delivered. The discriminations for Experiment 2 were of the form A+ B+ AX+ BX+ ABX-. A subsequent test phase in both experiments revealed that the associability of A and B, and hence the attention paid to these stimuli, was less than the associability of X. The results are explained with a modified version of a configural theory of associative learning.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Wales. dopsonj@cf.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jemma C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Dopson
authors.forename: Guillem R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Esber
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pearce
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D003118:Color Perception; D010856:Columbidae; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology