1st Edition

Context and Learning

Edited By P. Balsam, A. Tomie Copyright 1985
    432 Pages
    by Psychology Press

    First published in 1984. The effects of contextual stimuli on the performance of conditioned behaviors have recently become the object of intense theoretical and empirical scrutiny. This book presents the work of researchers who have attempted to characterize the role of context in learning through direct experimental manipulation of these stimuli. Their work reveals that context has important and systematic effects upon the learning and performance of conditioned responses. The roles played by context are diverse and the problems confronted in attempting to evaluate and differentiate contextual functions are formidable. These considerations are discussed in the introductory chapter. The remaining chapters present an analysis of the role of context in Pavlovian, operant, and discrimination learning paradigms.

    Contributors, Preface, 1. The Functions of Context in Learning and Performance, 2. Contextual Learning in Pavlovian Conditioning, 3. Effects of Test Context on the Acquisition of Autoshaping to a Formerly Random Keylight or a Formerly Contextual Keylight, 4. Some Effects of Contextual Conditioning and US Predictability on Pavlovian Conditioning, 5. Contextual Stimuli Mediate the Effects of Pre- and Postexposure to the Unconditioned Stimulus on Conditioned Suppression, 6. Contexts, Event-Memories, and Extinction, 7. The Several Roles of Context at the Time of Retrieval, 8. Contextual Control and Excitatory Versus Inhibitory Learning: Studies of Extinction, Reinstatement, and Interference, 9. Contextual Control of Taste-Aversion Conditioning and Extinction, 10. Pitch Context and Pitch Discrimination by Birds, 11. Contextual Stimulus Control of Operant Responding in Pigeons, 12. Cue-Context Interactions in Discrimination, Categorization, and Memory, 13. Contextual Stimulus Effects of Drugs and Internal States, 14. Cognitive Maps and Environmental Context, Author Index, Subject Index

    Biography

    Peter D Balsam Barnard College of Columbia University, Arthur Tomie Rutgers University.