Discrimination Learning in Two-Year-Olds

Daehler, Marvin W.; Bukatko, Danuta

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1974.tb00606.x

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The ability to judge two things as either the same or different has a special role in human cognitive development of abstract thinking (e.g., equivalence, conservation of area, volume, and number: Daehler & Bukatko, 1985; Marcus, Vijayan, Bandi Rao, & Vishton, 1999; Piaget & Inhelder, 1966/1969; Siegler, 1996). Such abstract thinking forms the rudimentary basis of mathematical operations based on equivalence.…”

Section: Same/different Abstract-concept Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generalization hypothesis of abstract-concept learning: Learning strategies and related issues in Macaca mulatta, Cebus apella, and Columba livia.

Wright

Katz

2007

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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The generalization hypothesis of abstract-concept learning was tested with a meta-analysis of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta), capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella), and pigeons (Columba livia) learning a same/different (S/D) task with expanding training sets. The generalization hypothesis states that as the number of training items increases, generalization from the training pairs will increase and could explain the subjects' accurate novel-stimulus transfer. By contrast, concept learning is learning the relationship between each pair of items; with more training items subjects learn more exemplars of the rule and transfer better. Having to learn the stimulus pairs (the generalization hypothesis) would require more training as the set size increases, whereas learning the concept might require less training because subjects would be learning an abstract rule. The results strongly support concept or rule learning despite severely relaxing the generalization-hypothesis parameters. Thus, generalization was not a factor in the transfer from these experiments, adding to the evidence that these subjects were learning the S/D abstract concept.

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Section: Same/different Abstract-concept Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Generalization hypothesis of abstract-concept learning: Learning strategies and related issues in Macaca mulatta, Cebus apella, and Columba livia.

Wright

Katz

2007

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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“…The ability to judge relationships that transcend stimulus features is thus considered higher order learning. The abstract concept of sameness or equivalence has figured prominently in human development (e.g., Daehler & Bukatko, 1985; Piaget & Inhelder, 1966/1969) and has long been regarded in adults as “the very keel and backbone of our thinking” (James, 1890/1950, p. 459).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Same/different abstract-concept learning by pigeons.

Katz¹,

Wright²

2006

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

134

148

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Eight pigeons were trained and tested in a simultaneous same/different task. After pecking an upper picture, they pecked a lower picture to indicate same or a white rectangle to indicate different. Increases in the training set size from 8 to 1,024 items produced improved transfer from 51.3% to 84.6%. This is the first evidence that pigeons can perform a two-item same/different task as accurately with novel items as training items and both above 80% correct. Fixed-set control groups ruled out training time or transfer testing as producing the high level of abstract-concept learning. Comparisons with similar experiments with rhesus and capuchin monkeys showed that the ability to learn the same/different abstract concept was similar but that pigeons require more training exemplars.

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“…Judgments of relationships that transcend individual features of the stimuli can be considered higher order learning, and therefore abstract-concept learning can be considered higher order. In cognitive development, abstract concepts of sameness and equivalence play a critical role (e.g., Daehler & Bukatko, 1985; Piaget & Inhelder, 1966/1969). In adults, the abstract concept of sameness has been considered “the very keel and backbone of our thinking”(James, 1890/1950, p. 459).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Abstract-concept learning and list-memory processing by capuchin and rhesus monkeys.

Wright¹,

Rivera²,

Katz

et al. 2003

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes

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Three capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) touched the lower of 2 pictures (same) or a white rectangle (different), increased same/different abstract-concept learning (52% to 87%) with set-size increases (8 to 128 pictures), and were better than 3 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Three other rhesus that touched the top picture before choices learned similar to capuchins but were better at list-memory learning. Both species' serial position functions were similar in shape and changes with retention delays. Other species showed qualitatively similar shape changes but quantitatively different time-course changes. In abstract-concept learning, qualitative similarity was shown by complete concept learning, whereas a quantitative difference would have been a set-size slope difference. Qualitative similarity is discussed in relation to general-process versus modular cognitive accounts.

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Discrimination Learning in Two-Year-Olds

Cited by 7 publications

References 13 publications

Generalization hypothesis of abstract-concept learning: Learning strategies and related issues in Macaca mulatta, Cebus apella, and Columba livia.

Generalization hypothesis of abstract-concept learning: Learning strategies and related issues in Macaca mulatta, Cebus apella, and Columba livia.

Same/different abstract-concept learning by pigeons.

Abstract-concept learning and list-memory processing by capuchin and rhesus monkeys.

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