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THE EFFECT OF IRRELEVANT CUES ON REVERSAL LEARNING IN THE RAT
Author(s) -
MACKINTOSH N. J.
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1963.tb00868.x
Subject(s) - overtraining , psychology , stimulus (psychology) , cognitive psychology , audiology , medicine , athletes , physical therapy
Twenty‐four rats were trained on a brightness discrimination, given 0 or 150 overtraining trials, and then reversed. For one group only one irrelevant cue (position) was present throughout the experiment. For the other two groups the reversal was learnt with orientation as a second irrelevant cue; in one case this cue had been present during original learning, in the other it had not. Where there were two irrelevant cues, overtraining was shown to have a greater facilitating effect on reversal than where there was only one—whether or not the second cue had been present in original learning. The results are interpreted as suggesting that the effect of overtraining is to increase the probability that responses will be controlled during reversal by the relevant stimulus dimension.