title: Discrimination learning with variable stimulus 'salience'.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In nature, sensory stimuli are organized in heterogeneous combinations. Salient items from these combinations 'stand-out' from their surroundings and determine what and how we learn. Yet, the relationship between varying stimulus salience and discrimination learning remains unclear.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  A rigorous formulation of the problem of discrimination learning should account for varying salience effects. We hypothesize that structural variations in the environment where the conditioned stimulus (CS) is embedded will be a significant determinant of learning rate and retention level.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using numerical simulations, we show how a modified version of the Rescorla-Wagner model, an influential theory of associative learning, predicts relevant interactions between varying salience and discrimination learning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  If supported by empirical data, our model will help to interpret critical experiments addressing the relations between attention, discrimination and learning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. mariomtv@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Treviño
authors.forename: Efrén
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aguilar-Garnica
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jendritza
authors.forename: Shi-Bin
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oviedo
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Köhr
authors.forename: Rodrigo J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: De Marco