British Journal of Psychology · 1963 · 43 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesBehavioral SciencesPsychologyBehavioral NeuroscienceExperimental PsychologyMemoryClassical ConditioningLearning In AnimalsMemory In AnimalsOperant ConditioningPerceptual LearningStimulus ControlBackward ConditioningBrightness DiscriminationChoice ReversalConditioned LearningConditioned ResponseFacilitating BehaviorReversal LearningRodent Learning
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.