Recent advances in some concepts of conditioning.

Culler, Elmer

doi:10.1037/h0057483

Cited by 52 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…This sequence of conditioned response development is apparently the reverse of that noted previously by Culler (1938), in which a "replica" of the unconditioned response was the first behavior to be evoked by the CS.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 58%

The effect of redundant contextual stimuli on autoshaping the pigeon’s keypeck

Wasserman

1973

Animal Learning & Behavior

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Three experiment, investigated the effect of contextual and trial stimulus lighting conditions on keypeck autoshaping in pigeons. White illumination of a response key before food presentation readily produced keypecking in a brightly lit chamber but failed to do so in a chamber without house illumination (Experiments I and III). Keypecking in 3 darkened cubicle progressively increased and the facilitatory effect of a houselight decreased as the keylight stimulus W3< varied from 3 color change (Experiment II) to a feature change IExperiment III). These findings support a "cue localization" hypothesis of autoshaping. according to which reinforcement signals select specific behaviors for expression and direct these behaviors toward the source of stimulation. This account was extended to superstitious and operant conditioning situations.

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 58%

The effect of redundant contextual stimuli on autoshaping the pigeon’s keypeck

Wasserman

1973

Animal Learning & Behavior

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“…The adaptive value of this type of anticipatory conditioned responding was recognized from the outset of studies of Pavlovian conditioning. Culler (1938) expressed the idea eloquently when he noted that without anticipatory conditioned responding, an organism would be forced to wait in every case for the [unconditioned] stimulus to arrive before beginning to meet it. The veil of the future would hang just before his eyes.…”

Section: Pavlovian Conditioning and Feed-forward Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the first chapter of his Conditioned Reflexes, Pavlov (1927) casually ascribed adaptive functions to conditioned salivation and other putative instances of signalization learning. American researchers of a Functionalist stripe (e.g., Culler 1938) claimed that learning to anticipate biologically important events provides the organism with (unspecified) advantages of preparing for the event. The reader is directed to section 3.4.4 of the target article for more of the same line of thought.…”

Section: Ecological Heuristics For Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pavlovian feed-forward mechanisms in the control of social behavior

Domjan¹,

Cusato²,

Villarreal³

2000

Behav Brain Sci

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The conceptual and investigative tools for the analysis of social behavior can be expanded by integrating biological theory, control systems theory, and Pavlovian conditioning. Biological theory has focused on the costs and benefits of social behavior from ecological and evolutionary perspectives. In contrast, control systems theory is concerned with how machines achieve a particular goal or purpose. The accurate operation of a system often requires feed-forward mechanisms that adjust system performance in anticipation of future inputs. Pavlovian conditioning is ideally suited to subserve this function in behavioral systems. Pavlovian mechanisms have been demonstrated in various aspects of sexual behavior, maternal lactation, and infant suckling. Pavlovian conditioning of agonistic behavior has been also reported, and Pavlovian processes may likewise be involved in social play and social grooming. Several further lines of evidence indicate that Pavlovian conditioning can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of social interactions, thereby improving their cost/benefit ratio. We extend Pavlovian concepts beyond the traditional domain of discrete secretory and other physiological reflexes to complex real-world behavioral interactions and apply abstract laboratory analyses of the mechanisms of associative learning to the daily challenges animals face as they interact with one another in their natural environments.

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“…However, for the sake of simplicity, we will focus primarily on conditioned excitation. Culler (1938) expressed the idea eloquently when he noted that without anticipatory conditioned responding, an organism would be forced to wait in every case for the [unconditioned] stimulus to arrive before beginning to meet it. The adaptive value of this type of anticipatory conditioned responding was recognized from the outset of studies of Pavlovian conditioning.…”

Section: Pavlovian Conditioning and Feed-forward Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

An integrative approach to the modeling of behavior

Timberlake¹,

Pecoraro²,

Tinsley³

2000

Behav Brain Sci

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IntroductionMany of the things that animals do, they do together. This makes the analysis of social behavior a central problem in behavioral science. Our goal in this target article is to expand the conceptual and investigative tools that are used in the analysis of social behavior by integrating three different theoretical perspectives: biological theory, control systems theory, and learning theory (in the form of Pavlovian conditioning). We discuss how the integration of these three perspectives provides insights into important proximate mechanisms of social behavior that increase the efficiency and effectiveness of social interactions.The three theoretical approaches addressed in this paper have developed mostly independently of one another, and two of the three (control theory and learning theory) have had little to say about social behavior. The biological approach has focused on ecological and genetic factors that shape social behavior but has largely ignored the role of learning or learned associations. Control systems theory developed as a discipline in engineering, and although it has been used in the analysis of some biological systems (e.g., McFarland 1971), it has not been extended to social behavior. Pavlovian conditioning theory originated in investi-gations of digestive physiology and since then has been applied to a variety of other areas including cardiovascular and immune functioning, placebo effects, substance abuse, ingestive behavior, and language and memory (Hollis 1997; Abstract: The conceptual and investigative tools for the analysis of social behavior can be expanded by integrating biological theory, control systems theory, and Pavlovian conditioning. Biological theory has focused on the costs and benefits of social behavior from ecological and evolutionary perspectives. In contrast, control systems theory is concerned with how machines achieve a particular goal or purpose. The accurate operation of a system often requires feed-forward mechanisms that adjust system performance in anticipation of future inputs. Pavlovian conditioning is ideally suited to subserve this function in behavioral systems. Pavlovian mechanisms have been demonstrated in various aspects of sexual behavior, maternal lactation, and infant suckling. Pavlovian conditioning of agonistic behavior has been also reported, and Pavlovian processes may likewise be involved in social play and social grooming. Several further lines of evidence indicate that Pavlovian conditioning can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of social interactions, thereby improving their cost/benefit ratio. We extend Pavlovian concepts beyond the traditional domain of discrete secretory and other physiological reflexes to complex real-world behavioral interactions and apply abstract laboratory analyses of the mechanisms of associative learning to the daily challenges animals face as they interact with one another in their natural environments.Abstract: While feed-forward mechanisms may be ubiquitous in biological systems that form the substrat...

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Recent advances in some concepts of conditioning.

Cited by 52 publications

References 13 publications

The effect of redundant contextual stimuli on autoshaping the pigeon’s keypeck

The effect of redundant contextual stimuli on autoshaping the pigeon’s keypeck

Pavlovian feed-forward mechanisms in the control of social behavior

An integrative approach to the modeling of behavior

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