Mechanisms of Animal Discrimination Learning

Book excerpt: Mechanisms of Animal Discrimination Learning provides a review of the field of animal discrimination learning, with discussions into other areas such as generalization, partial reinforcement, and some aspects of comparative psychology. This book elaborates the origins of continuity-noncontinuity controversy, analysis of attentional learning, Lashley and Wade's account of generalization, and evidence for a two-process analysis of the ORE. The reversal and nonreversal shifts, response unit hypothesis, inconsistent reinforcement and extinction of choice behavior, and aims and problems of comparative psychology are likewise described This text likewise covers the Zeaman and House model, Lovejoy's Model III, determinants of generalization gradients, cognitive dissonance hypothesis, and theoretical relevance of comparative psychology. This publication is a good source for biologists and researchers concerned with animal discrimination learning.