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THE ROLE OF VISUAL‐HOLDING CUES AND THE SIMULTANIZING STRATEGY IN INFANT OPERANT LEARNING
Author(s) -
MILLAR W. STUART
Publication year - 1974
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.2044-8295.1974.tb01424.x
Subject(s) - psychology , fixation (population genetics) , sensory cue , developmental psychology , audiology , visual perception , stimulation , visual attention , cognitive psychology , cognition , perception , neuroscience , population , medicine , demography , sociology
The operant acquisition of a manipulative response and concurrent visual fixation behaviour were monitored in 6‐ and 9‐month‐old infants under conditions where a cue marked the discontiguous feedback source, and where no such cue was available. Non‐availability of the visual cue disrupted manipulative response acquisition of 6‐month‐old but not 9‐month‐old infants. Cue‐assisted younger infants responded at a level comparable to the 9‐month‐olds and at a level reliably higher than the younger no‐cue group. Nine‐month‐old infants performed equally well under no‐cue and cue‐assisted conditions. This finding which demonstrates the importance of visual‐holding during the inter‐response interval is interpreted in terms of the increasing capability of infants during the second half of the first year to spontaneously relate centrally retrieved information to concurrent activity and to regulate behaviour on the basis of this information. Non‐contingent stimulation elicited greater visual fixation of the feedback source at both ages in the presence of the cue and related to the occurrence of acquisition. Nine‐month‐old infants revealed more coincidental visual and manipulative behaviour than did younger infants, but only with the cue available. The visual data are discussed in terms of the prerequisite discrimination of contingent from non‐contingent stimulation for response acquisition, and the generalized use of the simultanizing strategy.