Publications by category
Books
Dickinson A, McLaren IPL (2003). Associative Learning and Representation., Psychology Press.
Journal articles
Bowditch WA, Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL (In Press). Associatively-Mediated Stopping: Training Stimulus-Specific Inhibitory Control. Learning and Behavior
Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL, Chambers CD (In Press). Banishing the control homunculi in studies of action control and behaviour change.
Perspectives on Psychological ScienceAbstract:
Banishing the control homunculi in studies of action control and behaviour change
For centuries, human self-control has fascinated scientists and nonscientists alike. Current theories often attribute it to an executive control system. But even though executive control receives a great deal of attention across disciplines, most aspects of it are still poorly understood. Many theories rely on an ill-defined set of ‘homunculi’ doing jobs like 'response inhibition' or ‘updating’ without explaining how they do so. Furthermore, it is not always appreciated that control takes place across different time-scales. These two issues hamper major advances. Here we focus on the mechanistic basis for the executive control of actions. We propose that at the most basic level, action control depends on three cognitive processes: signal detection, action selection, and action execution. These processes are modulated via error-correction or outcome-evaluation mechanisms, preparation, and task rules maintained in working- and long-term memory. We also consider how executive control of actions becomes automatised with practice, and how people develop a control network. Finally, we discuss how the application of this unified framework in clinical domains can increase our understanding of control deficits and provide a theoretical basis for the development of novel ‘behavioural change’ interventions.
Abstract.
Leaver L, Lea S, Chow P, McLaren I (In Press). Behavioral Flexibility: a review, a model and some exploratory tests. Learning and Behavior
Wills AJ, Graham S, Koh Z, McLaren IPL, Rolland MD (In Press). Effects of Concurrent Load on Feature- and Rule-based Generalization in Human Contingency Learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior ProcessesAbstract:
Effects of Concurrent Load on Feature- and Rule-based Generalization in Human Contingency Learning
The effect of concurrent load on generalization performance in human contingency learning was examined in two experiments that employed the combined positive and negative patterning procedure of Shanks and Darby (1998). In Experiment 1 we tested 32 undergraduates and found that participants who were trained and tested under full attention showed generalization consistent with the application of an opposites rule (i.e. single cues signal the opposite outcome to their compound), whilst participants trained and tested under a concurrent cognitive load showed generalization consistent with surface similarity. In Experiment 2, we replicated the effect with 148 undergraduates, and provided evidence that it was the presence of concurrent load during training, rather than during testing, that was critical. Implications for associative, inferential, and dual-process accounts of human learning are discussed.
Abstract.
Best M, McLaren IPL, Verbruggen F (In Press). Instructed and acquired contingencies in response-inhibition tasks. Journal of Cognition
Meier C, Lea SEG, McLaren IPL (In Press). Pigeons in Control of their Actions: Learning and Performance in Stop-Signal and Change-Signal Tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Lea SEG, Chow K-Y, Meier C, McLaren I, Verbruggen F (In Press). Pigeons’ performance in a tracking change-signal procedure is consistent with the independent horse-race mode. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Livesey EJ, McLaren IPL (In Press). Revisiting peak shift on an artificial dimension: Effects of stimulus variability on generalization. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Best M, Lawrence NS, Logan GD, McLaren IPL, Verbruggen F (In Press). Should I stop or should I go? the role of associations and expectancies.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,
in pressAbstract:
Should I stop or should I go? the role of associations and expectancies
Following exposure to consistent stimulus-stop mappings, response inhibition can become automatized with practice. What is learned is less clear, even though this has important theoretical and practical implications. A recent analysis indicates that stimuli can become associated with a stop signal or with a stop ‘goal’. Furthermore, expectancy may play an important role. Previous studies that have used stop or no-go signals to manipulate stimulus-stop learning cannot distinguish between stimulus-signal and stimulus-goal associations, and expectancy has not been measured properly. In the present study, participants performed a task that combined features of the go/no-go task and the stop- signal task in which the stop-signal rule changed at the beginning of each block. The go and stop signals were superimposed over forty task-irrelevant images. Our results show that participants can learn direct associations between images and the stop goal without mediation via the stop signal. Exposure to the image-stop associations influenced task performance during training, and the expectancies measured following task completion or measured within the task. But, despite this, we found an effect of stimulus-stop associations on test performance only when the task increased the task-relevance of the images. This could indicate that the influence of stimulus-stop learning on go performance is strongly influenced by attention to both task-relevant and task-irrelevant stimulus features. More generally, our findings suggest a strong interplay between ‘automatic’ and ‘controlled’ processes.
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Author URL.
Graham S, Jie HL, Minn CH, McLaren IPL, Wills AJ (In Press). Simultaneous Backward Conditioned Inhibition and Mediated Conditioning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior ProcessesAbstract:
Simultaneous Backward Conditioned Inhibition and Mediated Conditioning
Demonstrations of backward blocking suggest that remembered stimuli undergo a reduction in association with the unconditioned stimulus present during learning. Conversely, demonstrations of mediated conditioning in flavor conditioning experiments with rats suggest that remembered stimuli undergo an increase in association with the US present during learning. In a study of food allergy predictions in 23 undergraduates we demonstrated simultaneous backward conditioned inhibition and mediated conditioning effects. These results suggest that the direction of change (decrease or increase) in associative strength depends on whether the remembered stimulus was of a different category (CS / antecedent) or the same category (US / outcome) as the presented US respectively.
Abstract.
Verbruggen F, Chambers CD, Lawrence NS, McLaren IPL (In Press). Winning and losing: Effects on impulsive action.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,
in pressAbstract:
Winning and losing: Effects on impulsive action
In the present study, we examined the effect of wins and losses on impulsive action in gambling (Experiments 1-3) and non-gambling tasks (Experiments 4-5). In each experiment, subjects performed a simple task in which they had to win points. On each trial, they had to choose between a gamble and a non-gamble. The gamble was always associated with a higher amount but a lower probability of winning than the non-gamble. After subjects indicated their choice (i.e. gamble or not), feedback was presented. They had to press a key to start the next trial. Experiments 1-3 showed that, compared to the non-gambling baseline, subjects were faster to initiate the next trial after a gambled loss, indicating that losses can induce impulsive actions. In Experiments 4 and 5, subjects alternated between the gambling task and a neutral decision-making task in which they could not win or lose points. Subjects were faster in the neutral decision-making task if they had just lost in the gambling task, suggesting that losses have a general effect on action. Our results challenge the dominant idea that humans become more cautious after suboptimal outcomes. Instead, they indicate that losses in the context of potential rewards are emotional events that increase impulsivity.
Abstract.
McCourt S, McLaren IPL, Civile C (2023). Changing face contours reduces the inversion effect and overall recognition performance. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 4, 100115-100115.
Civile C, McLaren I (2023). Modulating perceptual learning indexed by the Face Inversion Effect: Simulating the application of transcranial Direct Current
Stimulation (tDCS) using the MKM Model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 49, 139-150.
Civile C (2022). Investigating the Composite Effect in prototype-defined checkerboards vs. faces. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Toronto, ON: Cognitive Science Society
Civile C (2022). Manipulating the face contour affects face recognition performance leaving the Face Inversion Effect unaltered. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Toronto, ON: Cognitive Science Society.
Civile C, McLaren I (2022). Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) eliminates the Other-Race Effect (ORE) indexed by the Face Inversion Effect for own vs other-race faces.
Scientific ReportsAbstract:
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) eliminates the Other-Race Effect (ORE) indexed by the Face Inversion Effect for own vs other-race faces
We investigate here individuals’ reduced ability to recognise faces from other racial backgrounds, a robust phenomenon named the other-race effect (ORE). In this literature the term “race” is used to refer to visually distinct ethnic groups. In our study, we will refer to two of such groups: Western Caucasian (also known as White European) and East Asian e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean. This study applied the tDCS procedure (double-blind, 10mins duration, 1.5mA intensity, targeting Fp3 location), we have developed in the perceptual learning literature, specifically used to remove the expertise component of the face inversion effect (FIE), which consists of higher recognition performance for upright than inverted faces. In the tDCS-sham condition (N=48) we find a robust ORE i.e. significantly larger FIE for own vs other-race faces due to higher performance for upright own-race faces. Critically, in the anodal-tDCS condition (N=48) the FIE for own-race faces was significantly reduced compared to sham due to impaired performance for upright faces thus eliminating the cross-race interaction index of the ORE. Our results support the major role that perceptual expertise, manifesting through perceptual learning, has in determining the ORE indexed by the FIE.
Abstract.
Civile C, McLaren I (2022). Using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to influence decision criterion in a target detection paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Johnson T, McLaren R, Civile C, McLaren IPL (2021). Dual processes on dual dimensions: Associative and propositionally-mediated discrimination and peak shift. In T. Fitch, C. Lamm, H. Leder, & K. Teßmar-Raible (Eds.), Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 3136-3142.
McLaren R, Civile C, McLaren I (2021). Latent Inhibition in Young Children: a Developmental Effect?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 63-73.
McCourt S, McLaren IPL, Civile C (2021). Perceptual processes of face recognition: Single feature orientation and holistic information contribute to the face inversion effect. In T. Fitch, C. Lamm, H. Leder, & K. Teßmar-Raible (Eds.), Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 728-734.
Delameter A, Civile C, McLaren I (2021). Special Issue on Recent Advances in Perceptual Learning: Editorial. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 1-3.
Civile C, McLaren R, Milton F, McLaren I (2021). The Effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Perceptual Learning for Upright Faces and its Role in the Composite Face Effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 74-90.
Waguri E, McLaren R, McLaren IPL, Civile C (2021). Using prototype-defined checkerboards to investigate the mechanisms contributing to the Composite Face Effect. In T. Fitch, C. Lamm, H. Leder, & K. Teßmar-Raible (Eds.), Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 1236-1242.
Civile C, Quaglia S, Waguri E, Ward M, McLaren R, McLaren I (2021). Using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to investigate why Faces are and are Not Special. Scientific Reports
Civile C (2020). A novel target detection task using artificial stimuli: the effect of familiarity. Proceedings of the 42st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 3349-3355.
Civile C, Chamizo VD, Artigas A, McLaren IPL (2020). Directional cue and landmark configurations: the effect of rotating one set of landmarks relative to another. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Meier C, Lea SEG, McLaren IPL (2020). Measuring response inhibition with a continuous inhibitory-control task. Learning & Behavior, 48(1), 149-164.
Monsell S, McLaren I (2020). PEP Does Not Dispense with but Implements Task-Set Reconfiguration. Can it Handle Phenomena More Diagnostic of Endogenous Control?. Journal of Cognition, 3(1).
Civile C, Waguri E, Quaglia S, Wooster B, Curtis A, McLaren R, Lavric A, McLaren I (2020). Testing the effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on the Face Inversion Effect and the N170 Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) component. Neuropsychologia
Civile C (2020). Testing the immediate effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on face recognition skills. Proceedings of the 42st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 1141-1147.
Milton F, McLaren IPL, Copestake E, Satherley D, Wills AJ (2020). The effect of pre-exposure on overall similarity categorization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 46, 65-82.
Civile C, Cooke A, Liu X, McLaren R, Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Milton F, McLaren I (2020). The effect of tDCS on recognition depends on stimulus generalization: Neuro-stimulation can predictably enhance or reduce the face inversion effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 46, 83-98.
McLaren R, McLaren IPL, Civile C (2019). Pre-exposure and learning in young children: Evidence of latent inhibition?. In A.K. Goel, C.M. Seifert, & C. Freska (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Montreal, QB: Cognitive Science Society., 2332-2337.
Haselgrove M, McLaren IPL (2019). The psychology of associative learning: Editorial.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY,
72(2), 93-97.
Author URL.
Bartlett M, Strivens A, Nicholson W, McLaren R, McLaren IPL (2018). A novel measure of changes in force applied to the Perruchet Effect. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 1325-1331.
Civile C, McLaren R, McLaren IPL (2018). How We can Change Your Mind: Anodal tDCS to Fp3 alters human stimulus representation and learning. Neuropsychologia
McLaren IPL, McAndrew A, Angerer K, McLaren R, Forrest C, Bowditch W, Monsell S, Verbruggen F (2018). Mackintosh lecture—: Association and cognition: Two processes, one system. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Civile C, Obhi SS, McLaren IPL (2018). The Role of Experience-based Perceptual Learning in the Face Inversion Effect. Vision Research, 157, 84-88.
Civile C, Elchlepp H, McLaren RP, Galang CM, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2018). The effect of scrambling upright and inverted faces on the N170. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Nicholson W, Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL (2018). What can Associative Learning do for Driving?. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2152-2158.
Civile C (2017). Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and the Face Inversion Effect: Anodal stimulation at Fp3 reduces recognition for upright faces. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society., 1782-1787.
Civile C, Obhi S, McLaren IPL (2017). Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and the Face Inversion Effect: Anodal stimulation at Fp3 reduces recognition for upright faces. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society., 1782-1787.
Meier C, Lea SEG, McLaren IPL (2016). A stimulus-location effect in contingency-governed, but not rule-based, discrimination learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition,
42(2), 177-186.
Abstract:
A stimulus-location effect in contingency-governed, but not rule-based, discrimination learning
We tested pigeons' acquisition of a conditional discrimination task between coloured grating stimuli that included choosing one of two response keys, which either appeared as white keys to the left and right of the discriminative stimulus, or were replicas of the stimulus. Pigeons failed to acquire the discrimination when the response keys were white disks but succeeded when directly responding to a replica of the stimulus. These results highlight how conditioning processes shape learning in pigeons: the results can be accounted for by supposing that, when pigeons were allowed to respond directly towards the stimulus, learning was guided by classical conditioning; responding to white keys demanded instrumental learning, which impaired task acquisition for pigeons. In contrast, humans completing the same paradigm showed no differential learning success depending on whether figure or position indicated the correct key. However, only participants who could state the underlying discrimination rule acquired the task, which implies that human performance in this situation relied on the deduction and application of task rules instead of associative processes.
Abstract.
Weidemann G, McAndrew A, Livesey EJ, McLaren IPL (2016). Evidence for multiple processes contributing to the Perruchet effect: Response priming and associative learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Verbruggen F, McAndrew A, Weidemann G, Stevens T, McLaren IPL (2016). Limits of Executive Control: Sequential Effects in Predictable Environments.
Psychological Science,
27(5), 748-757.
Abstract:
Limits of Executive Control: Sequential Effects in Predictable Environments
Cognitive control theories attribute action control to executive processes that modulate behavior based
on expectancy or task rules. Here we examined corticospinal excitability and behavioral performance
in a go/no-go task. Go and no-go trials were presented in runs of 5, and runs alternated predictably. At
the beginning of each trial, subjects indicated whether they expected a go trial or a no-go trial.
Analyses revealed that subjects immediately adjusted their expectancy ratings when a new run started.
However, motor excitability was primarily associated with the properties of the previous trial, rather
than the predicted properties of the current trial. We also observed a large go latency cost at the
beginning of a go run. These findings indicate that actions in predictable environments are
substantially influenced by previous events, even if this goes against conscious expectancies about
upcoming events.
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Author URL.
Civile C, Verbruggen, McLaren, Zhao D, Ku Y, McLaren IPL (2016). Switching off perceptual learning: tDCS to left DLPFC eliminates perceptual learning in humans. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 290-296.
Meier C, Lea SEG, McLaren IPL (2016). Task-Switching in Pigeons: Associative Learning or Executive Control?.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition,
42(2), 163-176.
Abstract:
Task-Switching in Pigeons: Associative Learning or Executive Control?
Human performance in task-switching paradigms is seen as a hallmark of executive-control processes: switching between tasks induces switch costs (such that performance when changing from Task a to Task B is worse than on trials where the task repeats), which is generally attributed to executive control suppressing one task-set and activating the other. However, even in cases where task-sets are not employed, as well as in computational modelling of task switching, switch costs can still be found. This observation has led to the hypothesis that associative-learning processes might be responsible for all or part of the switch cost in task-switching paradigms. To test which cognitive processes contribute to the presence of task-switch costs, pigeons performed two different tasks on the same set of stimuli in rapid alternation. The pigeons showed no sign of switch costs, even though performance on trial N was influenced by trial N-1, showing that they were sensitive to sequential effects. Using Pearce's (1987) model for stimulus generalisation, we conclude that they learned the task associatively - in particular, a form of Pavlovian-conditioned approach was involved - and that this was responsible for the lack of any detectable switch costs. Pearce's model also allows us to make interferences about the common occurrence of switch costs in the absence of task-sets in human participants and in computational models, in that they are likely due to instrumental learning and the establishment of an equivalence between cues signalling the same task.
Abstract.
Civile C, McLaren R, McLaren IPL (2016). The face inversion effect: Roles of first-and second-order configural information.
American Journal of Psychology,
129(1), 23-35.
Abstract:
The face inversion effect: Roles of first-and second-order configural information
© 2016 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. The face inversion effect (FIE) is a reduction in recognition performance for inverted faces compared with upright faces. Several studies have proposed that a type of configural information, called second-order relational information, becomes more important with increasing expertise and gives rise to the FIE. However, recently it has been demonstrated that it is possible to obtain an FIE with facial features presented in isolation, showing that configural information is not necessary for this effect to occur. In this article we test whether there is a role for configural information in producing the FIE and whether second-or first-order relational information is particularly important. In Experiment 1, we investigated the role of configural information and local feature orientation by using a new type of "Thatcherizing" transformation on our set of faces, aiming to disrupt second-order and local feature orientation information but keeping all first-order properties unaltered. The results showed a significant reduction in the FIE for these "new" Thatcherized faces, but it did not entirely disappear. Experiment 2 confirmed the FIE for new Thatcherized faces, and Experiment 3 establishes that both local feature orientation and first-order relational information have a role in determining the FIE.
Abstract.
Yeates F, Wills AJ, Jones FW, Mclaren IPL (2015). State-Trace Analysis: Dissociable Processes in a Connectionist Network?.
Cognitive Science,
39(5), 1047-1061.
Abstract:
State-Trace Analysis: Dissociable Processes in a Connectionist Network?
Some argue the common practice of inferring multiple processes or systems from a dissociation is flawed (Dunn, 2003). One proposed solution is state-trace analysis (Bamber, 1979), which involves plotting, across two or more conditions of interest, performance measured by either two dependent variables, or two conditions of the same dependent measure. The resulting analysis is considered to provide evidence that either (a) a single process underlies performance (one function is produced) or (b) there is evidence for more than one process (more than one function is produced). This article reports simulations using the simple recurrent network (SRN; Elman, 1990) in which changes to the learning rate produced state-trace plots with multiple functions. We also report simulations using a single-layer error-correcting network that generate plots with a single function. We argue that the presence of different functions on a state-trace plot does not necessarily support a dual-system account, at least as typically defined (e.g. two separate autonomous systems competing to control responding); it can also indicate variation in a single parameter within theories generally considered to be single-system accounts.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Forrest CLD, McLaren RP, Jones FW, Aitken MRF, Mackintosh NJ (2014). Associations and propositions: the case for a dual-process account of learning in humans.
Neurobiol Learn Mem,
108, 185-195.
Abstract:
Associations and propositions: the case for a dual-process account of learning in humans.
We review evidence that supports the conclusion that people can and do learn in two distinct ways - one associative, the other propositional. No one disputes that we solve problems by testing hypotheses and inducing underlying rules, so the issue amounts to deciding whether there is evidence that we (and other animals) also rely on a simpler, associative system, that detects the frequency of occurrence of different events in our environment and the contingencies between them. There is neuroscientific evidence that associative learning occurs in at least some animals (e.g. Aplysia californica), so it must be the case that associative learning has evolved. Since both associative and propositional theories can in principle account for many instances of successful learning, the problem is then to show that there are at least some cases where the two classes of theory predict different outcomes. We offer a demonstration of cue competition effects in humans under incidental conditions as evidence against the argument that all such effects are based on cognitive inference. The latter supposition would imply that if the necessary information is unavailable to inference then no cue competition should occur. We then discuss the case of unblocking by reinforcer omission, where associative theory predicts an irrational solution to the problem, and consider the phenomenon of the Perruchet effect, in which conscious expectancy and conditioned response dissociate. Further discussion makes use of evidence that people will sometimes provide one solution to a problem when it is presented to them in summary form, and another when they are presented in rapid succession with trial-by trial information. We also demonstrate that people trained on a discrimination may show a peak shift (predicted by associative theory), but given the time and opportunity to detect the relationships between S+ and S-, show rule-based behavior instead. Finally, we conclude by presenting evidence that research on individual differences suggests that variation in intelligence and explicit problem solving ability are quite unrelated to variation in implicit (associative) learning, and briefly consider the computational implications of our argument, by asking how both associative and propositional processes can be accommodated within a single framework for cognition.
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Author URL.
Stevens T, Brevers D, Chambers CD, Lavric A, McLaren IPL, Mertens M, Noël X, Verbruggen F (2014). How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied,
in pressAbstract:
How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?
Recent research suggests that response-inhibition training can alter impulsive and compulsive behaviour. When stop signals are introduced in a gambling task, people not only become more cautious when executing their choice responses, they also prefer lower bets when gambling. Here we examined how stopping motor responses influences gambling. Experiment 1 showed that the reduced betting in stop-signal blocks was not caused by changes in information sampling styles or changes in arousal. In Experiments 2a-2b, people preferred lower bets when they occasionally had to stop their response in a secondary decision-making task, but not when they were instructed to respond as accurately as possible. Experiment 3 showed that merely introducing trials on which subjects could not gamble did not influence gambling preferences. Experiment 4 demonstrated that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to different populations. Furthermore, two combined analyses suggest that the effect of stopping on gambling preferences was reliable but small. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to a different task. Based on our findings and earlier research we propose that the presence of stop signals influences gambling by reducing approach behaviour and altering the motivational value of the gambling outcome.
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Forrest CLD, Monsell S, McLaren IPL (2014). Is performance in task-cuing experiments mediated by task set selection or associative compound retrieval?.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn,
40(4), 1002-1024.
Abstract:
Is performance in task-cuing experiments mediated by task set selection or associative compound retrieval?
Task-cuing experiments are usually intended to explore control of task set. But when small stimulus sets are used, they plausibly afford learning of the response associated with a combination of cue and stimulus, without reference to tasks. In 3 experiments we presented the typical trials of a task-cuing experiment: a cue (colored shape) followed, after a short or long interval, by a digit to which 1 of 2 responses was required. In a tasks condition, participants were (as usual) directed to interpret the cue as an instruction to perform either an odd/even or a high/low classification task. In a cue + stimulus → response (CSR) condition, to induce learning of mappings between cue-stimulus compound and response, participants were, in Experiment 1, given standard task instructions and additionally encouraged to learn the CSR mappings; in Experiment 2, informed of all the CSR mappings and asked to learn them, without standard task instructions; in Experiment 3, required to learn the mappings by trial and error. The effects of a task switch, response congruence, preparation, and transfer to a new set of stimuli differed substantially between the conditions in ways indicative of classification according to task rules in the tasks condition, and retrieval of responses specific to stimulus-cue combinations in the CSR conditions. Qualitative features of the latter could be captured by an associative learning network. Hence associatively based compound retrieval can serve as the basis for performance with a small stimulus set. But when organization by tasks is apparent, control via task set selection is the natural and efficient strategy.
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Civile C, Zhao D, Ku Y, Elchlepp H, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2014). Perceptual learning and inversion effects: Recognition of prototype-defined familiar checkerboards.
J Exp Psychol Anim Learn Cogn,
40(2), 144-161.
Abstract:
Perceptual learning and inversion effects: Recognition of prototype-defined familiar checkerboards.
The face inversion effect is a defection in performance in recognizing inverted faces compared with faces presented in their usual upright orientation typically believed to be specific for facial stimuli. McLaren (1997) was able to demonstrate that (a) an inversion effect could be obtained with exemplars drawn from a familiar category, such that upright exemplars were better discriminated than inverted exemplars; and (b) that the inversion effect required that the familiar category be prototype-defined. In this article, we replicate and extend these findings. We show that the inversion effect can be obtained in a standard old/new recognition memory paradigm, demonstrate that it is contingent on familiarization with a prototype-defined category, and establish that the effect is made up of two components. We confirm the advantage for upright exemplars drawn from a familiar, prototype-defined category, and show that there is a disadvantage for inverted exemplars drawn from this category relative to suitable controls. We also provide evidence that there is an N170 event-related potential signature for this effect. These results allow us to integrate a theory of perceptual learning originally proposed by McLaren, Kaye, and Mackintosh (1989) with explanations of the face inversion effect, first reported by Yin.
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Civile C, Chamizo VD, Mackintosh NJ, McLaren IPL (2014). The effect of disrupting configural information on rats' performance in the Morris water maze.
Learning and MotivationAbstract:
The effect of disrupting configural information on rats' performance in the Morris water maze
Many experiments on spatial navigation suggest that a rat uses the configuration of extra-maze landmarks to guide its choice of arm or location to visit. In the present study, based on Chamizo Rodríguez, Espinet, and Mackintosh's (2012) navigation paradigm, we conducted a series of experiments in which we focused on how changes to the configuration of stimuli surrounding the maze, implemented by transposing the location of both near and far landmarks, significantly affected rats' performance (Experiment1, Test Phase 1). Subsequent tests demonstrated that it was the near landmarks that played the major role in this navigation task (Experiment 1, Test Phases 2 and 3). Experiment 2 provided evidence for a novel type of inversion effect in the water maze, by showing that rotation by 180° of the location of one set of landmarks relative to a directional cue also strongly affected performance. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Civile C, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2014). The face inversion effect--parts and wholes: individual features and their configuration.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove),
67(4), 728-746.
Abstract:
The face inversion effect--parts and wholes: individual features and their configuration.
The face inversion effect (FIE) is a reduction in recognition performance for inverted faces (compared to upright faces) that is greater than that typically observed with other stimulus types (e.g. houses). The work of Diamond and Carey, suggests that a special type of configural information, "second-order relational information" is critical in generating this inversion effect. However, Tanaka and Farah concluded that greater reliance on second-order relational information did not directly result in greater sensitivity to inversion, and they suggested that the FIE is not entirely due to a reliance on this type of configural information. A more recent review by McKone and Yovel provides a meta-analysis that makes a similar point. In this paper, we investigated the contributions made by configural and featural information to the FIE. Experiments 1a and1b investigated the link between configural information and the FIE. Remarkably, Experiment 1b showed that disruption of all configural information of the type considered in Diamond and Carey's analysis (both first and second order) was effective in reducing recognition performance, but did not significantly impact on the FIE. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that face processing is affected by the orientation of individual features and that this plays a major role in producing the FIE. The FIE was only completely eliminated when we disrupted the single feature orientation information in addition to the configural information, by using a new type of transformation similar to Thatcherizing our sets of scrambled faces. We conclude by noting that our results for scrambled faces are consistent with an account that has recognition performance entirely determined by the proportion of upright facial features within a stimulus, and that any ability to make use of the spatial configuration of these features seems to benefit upright and inverted normal faces alike.
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Verbruggen F, Best M, Bowditch WA, Stevens T, McLaren IPL (2014). The inhibitory control reflex.
Neuropsychologia,
65, 263-278.
Abstract:
The inhibitory control reflex
Response inhibition is typically considered a hallmark of deliberate executive control. In this article, we review work showing that response inhibition can also become a ‘prepared reflex’, readily triggered by information in the environment, or after sufficient training, a ‘learned reflex’ triggered by the retrieval of previously acquired associations between stimuli and stopping. We present new results indicating that people can learn various associations, which influence performance in different ways. To account for previous findings and our new results, we present a novel architecture that integrates theories of associative learning, Pavlovian conditioning, and executive response inhibition. Finally, we discuss why this work is also relevant for the study of ‘intentional inhibition’.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Dunn BD, Lawrence NS, Milton FN, Verbruggen F, Stevens T, McAndrew A, Yeates F (2014). Why decision making may not require awareness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(1), 35-36.
Verbruggen F, Adams RC, van 't Wout F, Stevens T, McLaren IPL, Chambers CD (2013). Are the effects of response inhibition on gambling long-lasting?.
PLoS One,
8(7).
Abstract:
Are the effects of response inhibition on gambling long-lasting?
A recent study has shown that short-term training in response inhibition can make people more cautious for up to two hours when making decisions. However, the longevity of such training effects is unclear. In this study we tested whether training in the stop-signal paradigm reduces risky gambling when the training and gambling task are separated by 24 hours. Two independent experiments revealed that the aftereffects of stop-signal training are negligible after 24 hours. This was supported by Bayes factors that provided strong support for the null hypothesis. These findings indicate the need to better optimise the parameters of inhibition training to achieve clinical efficacy, potentially by strengthening automatic associations between specific stimuli and stopping.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Natal SDC, McLaren IPL, Livesey EJ (2013). Generalization of Feature- and Rule-Based Learning in the Categorization of Dimensional Stimuli: Evidence for Dual Processes Under Cognitive Control.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-ANIMAL BEHAVIOR PROCESSES,
39(2), 140-151.
Author URL.
Yeates F, Jones FW, Wills AJ, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2013). Modeling human sequence learning under incidental conditions.
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process,
39(2), 166-173.
Abstract:
Modeling human sequence learning under incidental conditions.
This research explored the role that associative learning may play in human sequence learning. Two-choice serial reaction time tasks were performed under incidental conditions using 2 different sequences. In both cases, an experimental group was trained on 4 subsequences: LLL, LRL, RLR, and RRR for Group "Same" and LLR, LRR, RLL, and RRL for Group "Different," with left and right counterbalanced across participants. To control for sequential effects, we assayed sequence learning by comparing their performance with that of a control group, which had been trained on a pseudorandom ordering, during a test phase in which both experimental and control groups experienced the same subsequences. Participants in both groups showed sequence learning, but the group trained on "different" learned more and more rapidly. This result is the opposite that predicted by the augmented simple recurrent network used by F. W. Jones and I. P. L. McLaren (2009, Human sequence learning under incidental and intentional conditions, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, Vol. 35, pp. 538-553), but can be modeled using a reparameterized version of this network that also includes a more realistic representation of the stimulus array, suggesting that the latter may be a better model of human sequence learning under incidental conditions.
Abstract.
Author URL.
McAndrew A, Jones FW, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2012). Dissociating expectancy of shock and changes in skin conductance: an investigation of the Perruchet effect using an electrodermal paradigm.
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process,
38(2), 203-208.
Abstract:
Dissociating expectancy of shock and changes in skin conductance: an investigation of the Perruchet effect using an electrodermal paradigm.
Is human Pavlovian conditioning driven by a unitary, propositional system (as claimed by Mitchell, De Houwer, & Lovibond, 2009) or by dual systems; one under conscious control, symbolic in nature, and requiring effort to deploy, and the other utilizing associative processes and automatic in its operation (McLaren, Green, & Mackintosh, 1994)? Past research has suggested that for electrodermal conditioning to occur in humans, conscious awareness of the contingencies is necessary to produce conditioned responding (e.g. Hinchy, Lovibond, & Ter-Horst, 1995), as predicted by single process theories that attribute the conditioned response (CR) to conscious expectancy of the shock. In this article, the authors examined the Perruchet effect (Perruchet, 1985), using an electrodermal paradigm to determine whether there is any role for associative processes in human electrodermal conditioning. The authors attempted to replicate the basic effect, whereby expectancy of an unconditioned stimulus (US) increases over a run of nonreinforced trials while the CR to the conditional stimulus (CS) declines, and the complementary pattern in which expectancy decreases over a run of reinforced trials while the CR to the CS grows in strength. In line with these patterns, the change in skin conductance response (our CR) as a function of US run length was found to follow a linear trend opposite to that of conscious expectancy of shock with respect to US run length. This dissociation supports a dual-processing system account of human Pavlovian conditioning, with conscious, controlled processes governing expectancy (and subject to the gambler's fallacy), whereas automatic, associative processes determine at least some of the strength of the CR to the CS.
Abstract.
Author URL.
McLaren IPL, Forrest CL, McLaren RP (2012). Elemental representation and configural mappings: combining elemental and configural theories of associative learning.
Learn Behav,
40(3), 320-333.
Abstract:
Elemental representation and configural mappings: combining elemental and configural theories of associative learning.
In this article, we present our first attempt at combining an elemental theory designed to model representation development in an associative system (based on McLaren, Kaye, & Mackintosh, 1989) with a configural theory that models associative learning and memory (McLaren, 1993). After considering the possible advantages of such a combination (and some possible pitfalls), we offer a hybrid model that allows both components to produce the phenomena that they are capable of without introducing unwanted interactions. We then successfully apply the model to a range of phenomena, including latent inhibition, perceptual learning, the Espinet effect, and first- and second-order retrospective revaluation. In some cases, we present new data for comparison with our model's predictions. In all cases, the model replicates the pattern observed in our experimental results. We conclude that this line of development is a promising one for arriving at general theories of associative learning and memory.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Lea SEG, McLaren IPL, Dow SM, Graft DA (2012). The cognitive mechanisms of optimal sampling.
Behavioural Processes,
89, 77-85.
Abstract:
The cognitive mechanisms of optimal sampling
How can animals learn the prey densities that are available in an environment that changes
unpredictably from day to day, and how much effort should they devote to doing so, rather than
exploiting what they already know?. Using a two-armed bandit situation, we simulated several
processes that might explain the trade-off between exploring and exploiting. They included an
optimising model, dynamic backward sampling; a dynamic version of the matching law; the Rescorla-
Wagner theory; a neural network model; and an ε-greedy and a rule-of-thumb model, both derived
from the study of reinforcement learning in artificial intelligence. Under conditions like those used in
published studies of birds' performance under two-armed bandit conditions, all models usually
identified the more profitable source of reward, and did so more quickly when the differential of
reward probabilities was greater. Only the dynamic programming model switched from exploring to
exploiting more quickly when available time in the situation was less. If sessions of equal length were
presented in blocks, a session-length effect could be induced in some of the models by allowing
motivational, but not memory, carry-over from one session to the next. The neural network and rule of
thumb models were the most successful overall.
Abstract.
McLaren IP, Wills AJ, Graham S (2011). Representation development, perceptual learning, and concept formation.
Behav Brain Sci,
34(3), 141-142.
Abstract:
Representation development, perceptual learning, and concept formation.
We argue for an example of "core cognition" based on Diamond and Carey's (1986) work on expertise and recognition, which is not made use of in the Origin of Concepts. This mechanism for perceptual learning seems to have all the necessary characteristics in that it is innate, domain-specific (requires stimulus sets possessing a certain structure), and demonstrably affects categorisation in a way that strongly suggests it will influence concept formation as well.
Abstract.
Mclaren IPL (2009). Both rules and associations are required to predict human behaviour.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences,
32(2), 216-217.
Abstract:
Both rules and associations are required to predict human behaviour
I argue that the dual-process account of human learning rejected by Mitchell et al. in the target article is informative and predictive with respect to human behaviour in a way that the authors' purely propositional account is not. Experiments that reveal different patterns of results under conditions that favour either associative or rule-based performance are the way forward. © 2009 Cambridge University Press.
Abstract.
Livesey EJ, McLaren IPL (2009). Discrimination and generalization along a simple dimension: Peak shift and rule-governed responding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 35
Jones FW, McLaren IPL (2009). Human sequence learning under incidental and intentional conditions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 35
McLaren IPL (2008). The Flexibility Thesis: a Critique-Commentary on Melchers, Shanks and Lachnit. Behavioural Processes, 77(3), 440-442.
(2007). Elemental associability changes in human discrimination learning.
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes,
33(2), 148-159.
Abstract:
Elemental associability changes in human discrimination learning.
Participants initially completed a discrimination task (D1) involving categorization of patterns with multiple common features, each feature being partly predictive of the correct response. In a subsequent target discrimination task (D2), these features were redistributed across new discriminative stimuli. The relative predictiveness of the features in D1 was either maintained in D2 (i.e. features were equally informative in D1 and D2) or switched (i.e. more informative features in D1 were made less informative in D2, and vice versa). Differential performance on D2 suggested that features most predictive of the correct D1 responses became more highly associable than features that were less predictive in D1. This finding suggests that the associability of individual stimulus elements changes as a consequence of their role in discrimination learning. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved
Abstract.
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2006). A hybrid cognitive-associative model to simulate human learning in the serial reaction time paradigm.
Proceedings of AISB'06: Adaptation in Artificial and Biological Systems,
1, 74-90.
Abstract:
A hybrid cognitive-associative model to simulate human learning in the serial reaction time paradigm
We present a computational model to simulate the findings of a series of experiments using the Serial Reaction Time paradigm on the problem devised by Maskara and Noetzel (1993). In contrast to other hybrid architectures, the model presented here simulates the experimental findings rather closely, although the predictions made by the model are counter-intuitive with respect to variants of the problem. The general finding is less counter-intuitive and can be predicted by the model as well: shorter and less numerous sequences can be better represented cognitively, whilst associative learning drives performance on longer and more numerous sequences.
Abstract.
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2006). Associative sequence learning in humans.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-ANIMAL BEHAVIOR PROCESSES,
32(2), 156-163.
Author URL.
Livesey EJ, Mansi C, McLaren IPL (2006). Dual processes mediate discrimination and generalisation in humans. In Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Vancouver, Canada.
Le Pelley ME, Oakeshott SM, McLaren IPL (2005). Blocking and unblocking in human causal learning.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-ANIMAL BEHAVIOR PROCESSES,
31(1), 56-70.
Author URL.
Livesey EJ, Broadhurst PJC, McLaren IPL (2005). Discrimination and generalization in pattern categorization: a case for elemental associative learning. Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Stresa, Italy.
Livesey EJ, Pearson L, McLaren IPL (2005). Spatial variability and peak shift: a challenge for elemental associative learning?. Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Stresa, Italy.
LePelley ME, Oakeshott SM, Wills AJ, IPLMcLaren (2005). The outcome specificity of learned predictiveness effects: Parallels between human causal learning and animal conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior Processes, 31(2), 226-236.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2004). Associative History Affects the Associative Change Undergone by Both Presented and Absent Cues in Human Causal Learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,
30(1), 67-73.
Abstract:
Associative History Affects the Associative Change Undergone by Both Presented and Absent Cues in Human Causal Learning
R. A. Rescorla (2000) noted that a number of influential theories of associative learning do not take the associative history of cues (i.e. the prior training that they have received) into account when calculating the associative change undergone by those cues. The authors tested this assumption in a human causal learning paradigm and found associative history to be an important determinant of the learning undergone by cues that are presented on a trial. Moreover, associative history was also found to influence the amount of retrospective revaluation undergone by absent cues. These findings conflict with models of causal learning in which the associative change undergone by an element of a cue compound is governed by a summed error term (e.g. R. A. Rescorla & A. R. Wagner, 1972).
Abstract.
Wills AJ, Suret MB, McLaren IPL (2004). The role of category structure in determining the effects of stimulus pre-exposure on categorization accuracy. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B, 57(1), 79-88.
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2003). Abstract and associatively based representations in human sequence learning.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,
358(1435), 1277-1283.
Abstract:
Abstract and associatively based representations in human sequence learning
We give an analysis of performance in an artificial neural network for which the claim had been made that it could learn abstract representations. Our argument is that this network is associative in nature, and cannot develop abstract representations. The network thus converges to a solution that is solely based on the statistical regularities of the training set. Inspired by human experiments that have shown that humans can engage in both associative (statistical) and abstract learning, we present a new, hybrid computational model that combines associative and more abstract, cognitive processes. To cross-validate the model we attempted to predict human behaviour in further experiments. One of these experiments reveals some evidence for the use of abstract representations, whereas the others provide evidence for associatively based performance. The predictions of the hybrid model stand in line with our empirical data.
Abstract.
Dickinson A, McLaren IPL (2003). Associative learning and representation: Introduction.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY SECTION B-COMPARATIVE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY,
56(1), 3-6.
Author URL.
Dickinson A, McLaren IPL (2003). Associative learning and representation: Introduction. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 56 B(1), 3-6.
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2003). Computational Modeling of Human Performance in a Sequence Learning Experiment.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 212-217.
Abstract:
Computational Modeling of Human Performance in a Sequence Learning Experiment
This paper follows on from earlier work that our colleagues and ourselves presented at IJCNN 2001, IJCNN 2002 and FUZZ-IEEE 2002. We referred to simulations of a recurrent network and of an adaptive system that was partly based on a recurrent network. Both models were successful in simulating human sequence learning in a reaction time paradigm that is widely used in cognitive science and experimental psychology. We argued that these models were not only successful in simulating human learning, but also in predicting successful generalization to novel sequences where humans show generalization, and a failure to generalize to novel sequences when humans fail. In this paper we present data from a novel experiment and novel simulations on a longer version of this serial reaction time task. Under these conditions the task appears to be more difficult to master for the human subjects and therefore more complex. Accordingly, humans were not able to learn the task at all. Their failure is predicted by both computational models. Combining these results with the earlier findings from the previous conferences suggests that both successful and unsuccessful human performance can be predicted by the computational models considered here.
Abstract.
Trobalon JB, Miguelez D, McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (2003). Intradimensional and Extradimensional Shifts in Spatial Learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,
29(2), 143-152.
Abstract:
Intradimensional and Extradimensional Shifts in Spatial Learning
Animals trained on 2 discriminations learn the 2nd rapidly if the relevant stimuli are from the same dimension as the 1st (an intradimensional or ID shift) but slowly if the relevant stimuli for the 2 problems are from different dimensions (an extradimensional or ED shift). Four experiments examined ID and ED shifts in spatial learning. Rats trained on 2 spatial problems learned the 2nd more rapidly than rats whose 1st problem had been nonspatial, But this difference between ID and ED shifts depended on the spatial relationship between rewarded (S+) and unrewarded (S-) alternatives in the 2 spatial problems. The results imply that rats trained on a spatial discrimination do not learn to attend to all spatial landmarks but only to those that serve to differentiate S+ and S-.
Abstract.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2003). Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
56 B(1), 68-79.
Abstract:
Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning
The Mackintosh (1975) model of associative learning specifies that processing of both the cues presented on a trial and the outcome of that trial will interact to determine the amount of associative change undergone by a given cue, Experiments looking at the distribution of associative change among the elements of a reinforced compound in animal conditioning studies indicate that processing of the outcome of a trial does indeed influence associative change. The work reported here investigates the distribution of associative change among the elements of a reinforced compound in a human causal judgement paradigm, and it indicates that processing of the cues presented on a trial also plays a role in determining associative change (in terms of changes in the associability of cues as a result of experience). Taken in combination, these results provide good support for Mackintosh (1975) and the characterizations of both cue and outcome processing that it offers.
Abstract.
Suret M, McLaren IPL (2003). Representation and discrimination on an artificial dimension.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
56 B(1), 30-42.
Abstract:
Representation and discrimination on an artificial dimension
How we represent stimuli that are drawn from either natural (e.g. hue) or artificial (e.g. morphed face) dimensions is an issue of great significance for human learning. In this paper we outline a model of human dimensional representation in conjunction with some supporting empirical evidence for transfer along a continuum in humans (following Lawrence, 1952) and the first recorded case of transfer after outcome reversal with human subjects (following Mackintosh & Little, 1970). Our results support an elemental representation for dimensional stimuli in conjunction with algorithms that modulate both the salience and the associability of those representations.
Abstract.
Locke JEM, Suret MB, McLaren IPL (2003). Transposition and generalization on an artificial dimension.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, PTS 1 AND 2, 728-733.
Author URL.
Suret M, McLaren IPL (2002). An associative model of human learning on an artificial dimension.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 806-811.
Abstract:
An associative model of human learning on an artificial dimension
This paper details an associative model that is applied to human learning on an artificial dimension. A variety of phenomena, including peak-shift, transfer along a continuum and summation/generalization are considered and simulation results are presented that give close fit to empirical data.
Abstract.
Spiegel R, Suret M, Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2002). Analyzing state dynamics in a recurrent neural network.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 834-839.
Abstract:
Analyzing state dynamics in a recurrent neural network
An analysis of state in simple recurrent networks (SRNs [1]) will be presented when they are trained to predict the outputs in a finite state grammar, and when they are required to generalize to a similar grammar.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (2002). Associative learning and elemental representation: II. Generalization and discrimination.
ANIMAL LEARNING & BEHAVIOR,
30(3), 177-200.
Author URL.
Spiegel R, Le Pelley ME, Suret M, McLaren IPL (2002). Combining fuzzy rules and a neural network in an adaptive system.
IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science,
1, 340-345.
Abstract:
Combining fuzzy rules and a neural network in an adaptive system
It has been shown that humans can rely on both rules or associations to solve a problem. We present a model in which rules may be applied to a particular sequence learning task, but rather than the rules being applied in an all-or-none fashion, a continuum from fully representing to not representing a rule is required in order to model human task performance.
Abstract.
Jones FW, Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2002). The APECS-SRN: Towards a model of SRT sequence learning.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 692-696.
Abstract:
The APECS-SRN: Towards a model of SRT sequence learning
Current neural network models are unable to capture the detailed pattern of sub-sequence learning that people show on the serial reaction time (SRT) task. This paper presents a new model, the APECS-SRN, that is better able to capture this pattern. The model runs the APECS algorithm in an SRN-type architecture.
Abstract.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2002). The interaction of learning and memory in associative networks.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
3, 2899-2904.
Abstract:
The interaction of learning and memory in associative networks
We look at the account of cue competition and interference offered by learning-based models of conditioning, and show that this approach is flawed. A model integrating learning and memory is able to provide a better account of the empirical data by appealing to changes in the retrievability of previously-learnt input-output mappings.
Abstract.
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2001). A hybrid model approach to generalization in sequence learning.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
4, 2393-2398.
Abstract:
A hybrid model approach to generalization in sequence learning
Both recurrent neural networks and humans are able to learn sequential information and generalize to sequences they have not experienced in training. However, they sometimes seem to differ in the way they perform generalization. A new hybrid model is introduced that relies on both a recurrent neural network and rules typically applied by human subjects.
Abstract.
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2001). Recurrent neural networks and symbol grounding.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 320-325.
Abstract:
Recurrent neural networks and symbol grounding
It will be demonstrated that a recurrent neural network relying on statistics alone is able to differentiate between the classical Aristotelian categories odd and even number. This finding overlaps with the associative part of the hybrid associative/cognitive learning system in humans who sometimes differentiate between both categories unknowingly, i.e. without explicit rules.
Abstract.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2001). Retrospective revaluation in humans: Learning or memory?.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
54(4), 311-352.
Abstract:
Retrospective revaluation in humans: Learning or memory?
The phenomenon of retrospective revaluation has posed considerable problems for many associative learning theories as it involves a change in the associative strength of a cue on trials on which that cue is absent. The present series of experiments pursues this idea of changes in associative strength between evoked representations of cues, in an effort to establish, de novo, an excitatory connection between two cues simultaneously activated in memory. Given the finding of Dwyer, Mackintosh, and Boakes (1998) that simultaneous activation of absent cues in the memory of rats resulted in learning comparable to that seen in retrospective revaluation, we expected that if retrospective revaluation was found in humans, then excitatory learning due to simultaneous activation would also be seen. This was not the case. The implications of our results are discussed in terms of Dickinson and Burke's (1996) modified SOP model and a version of McLaren's (1993) APECS network. We conclude that many of the effects attributed to learning in retrospective revaluation studies are better thought of as due to changes in the retrievability of items in memory.
Abstract.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2001). The mechanics of associative change. Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
Spiegel R, Jones FW, McLaren IPL (2001). The prediction-irrelevance problem in grammar learning.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 314-319.
Abstract:
The prediction-irrelevance problem in grammar learning
The Elman recurrent network (SRN) has been considered a good model of language acquisition including grammar learning. Until recently, however, it was reported that it cannot master the prediction-irrelevance criterion, which, if true, would clearly limit its success of being an adequate neural network in this context. This paper will show that the SRN can deal with prediction-irrelevant information.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (2000). An elemental model of associative learning: I. Latent inhibition and perceptual learning.
Animal Learning and Behavior,
28(3), 211-246.
Abstract:
An elemental model of associative learning: I. Latent inhibition and perceptual learning
This paper presents a brief, informal outline followed by a formal statement of an elemental associative learning model first described by McLaren, Kaye, and Mackintosh (1989). The model assumes representation of stimuli by sets of elements (i.e. microfeatures) and a set of associative algorithms that incorporate the following: real-time simulation of learning; an error-correcting learning rule; weight decay that distinguishes between transient and permanent associations; and modulation of associative learning that gives high salience to and, hence, promotes rapid learning with novel unpredicted stimuli and reduces the salience for a stimulus as its error term declines. The model is applied in outline fashion to some of the basic phenomena of simple conditioning and, in greater detail, to the phenomena of latent inhibition and perceptual learning. A detailed account of generalization and discrimination will be provided in a later paper.
Abstract.
Wills AJ, Suret, M.B. McLaren, I.P.L. (2000). Categorization and the ratio rule.
Proceedings of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society Author URL.
Le Pelley ME, Cutler DL, McLaren IPL (2000). Retrospective effects in human causality judgment.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, 782-787.
Author URL.
Wills AJ, Reimers, S. Stewart, N. Suret, M. McLaren IPL (2000). Tests of the ratio rule in categorization.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
53A(4), 983-1011.
Author URL.
McLaren IPL, Suret M (2000). Transfer along a continuum: Differentiation or association?.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, 340-345.
Author URL.
McLaren IPL (1999). Knowledge, concepts, and categories.
APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY,
13(2), 188-189.
Author URL.
Jones FW, McLaren IPL (1999). Rules and associations.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, 240-245.
Author URL.
McLaren IPL (1998). Animal learning and cognition: a neural network approach.
TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES,
2(6), 236-236.
Author URL.
Jones FW, Wills, A.J. McLaren, I.P.L. (1998). Perceptual categorization: connectionist modelling and decision rules.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
51B(1), 33-58.
Author URL.
Wills AJ, McLaren, I.P.L. (1998). Perceptual learning and free classification.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
51B(3), 235-270.
Author URL.
Graham S, McLaren IPL (1998). Retardation in Human Discrimination Learning as a Consequence of Pre-exposure: Latent Inhibition or Negative Priming?.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
51(2), 155-172.
Abstract:
Retardation in Human Discrimination Learning as a Consequence of Pre-exposure: Latent Inhibition or Negative Priming?
A series of experiments with human subjects, using black-and-white chequerboard patterns, demonstrated that non-reinforced pre-exposure could impair performance in a subsequent learning task. Subjects were invited to take part in a scenario similar to that of a computer simulated card game. Their task was to turn over a series of cards by mouse-clicking on a pack of cards lying face-down, and then to classify these cards into one of two categories. In a subsequent task, subjects were asked to discriminate between pairs of chequerboards, some of which had previously appeared in the initial categorization phase: either directly ("fronts") or incidentally ("backs") involved in categorization. In Experiment 1, for those stimuli used as the backs of the cards (that is, those visible on top of the pack of cards), there was a significant impairment in performance relative to non-pre-exposed control stimuli. Although the impairment appeared to be specific to the stimuli pre-exposed, when the pre-exposed "backs" were minimally distorted in the discrimination task of Experiment 2, performance was still significantly impaired relative to non-pre-exposed control stimuli. The results of Experiment 2 do not support the interpretation that retardation in learning following masked pre-exposure in human experiments is comparable to latent inhibition following simple preexposure in other animals. Whilst the impairment in performance appears to be similar to that of latent inhibition, the results may, instead, be better understood in terms of the inhibitory processes involved in negative priming. If this is so, then serious doubt is cast on whether latent inhibition has ever been reliably demonstrated in adult humans.
Abstract.
Rodrigo T, Chamizo VD, McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (1997). Blocking in the spatial domain.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,
23(1), 110-118.
Abstract:
Blocking in the spatial domain
An initial series of experiments with rats in a swimming pool established that they could find a hidden platform the location of which was defined in terms of 3 or 4 landmarks and that, when trained with all 4, any subset of 3 (or even, after a sufficient number of swimming trials, 2) landmarks was sufficient to produce accurate performance. When only one landmark was present during testing, however, performance fell to chance. Two additional experiments demonstrated a significant blocking effect: If rats were first trained to locate the platform with 3 landmarks, they did not learn to use a 4th landmark added to their initial set of 3.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL (1997). Categorization and perceptual learning: an analogue of the face inversion effect.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology,
50(2), 257-273.
Abstract:
Categorization and perceptual learning: an analogue of the face inversion effect
This paper reports two experiments that investigate the extent to which it is plausible to suppose that an associatively based mechanism for perceptual learning acts as the basis for the effects of inversion on identification, recognition, matching and discrimination of faces (and certain other stimuli rendered familiar by expertise, e.g. gundogs). In the first experiment, an inversion effect that is contingent both on familiarity with a category and on the category possessing prototypical structure is demonstrated using discrimination learning of chequerboard stimuli. The second experiment demonstrates that the inversion effect found in Experiment 1 can generalize to a recognition paradigm as well. These results are discussed within the framework provided by associative learning theory, and a parallel is drawn with models employing a norm-based coding in similarity space. The conclusion is that it would be remarkable if the inversion effects demonstrated with the abstract categories used in the experiments reported here were not implicated in the inversion effects found with other classes of stimuli, whilst conceding that the analogy is not complete, particularly in the case of faces. ©1997 the Experimental Psychology Society.
Abstract.
Wills AJ, McLaren, I.P.L. (1997). Generalization in category learning: one and two category problems.
Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society Author URL.
Wills AJ, McLaren, I.P.L. (1997). Generalization in human category learning: a connectionist explanation of differences in gradient after discriminative and non-discriminative training.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
50A(3), 607-630.
Author URL.
Graham S, McLaren IPL (1997). Retardation in Human Discrimination Learning as a Consequence of Pre-exposure: Latent Inhibition or Negative Priming?. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 51(2b), 155-172.
Rodrigo T, Chamizo VD, McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (1996). Blocking between spatial landmarks: a test of the learning processes underlying navigation tasks.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY,
31(3-4), 4502-4502.
Author URL.
Aitken MRF, Bennett CH, McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (1996). Perceptual differentiation during categorization learning by pigeons.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,
22(1), 43-50.
Abstract:
Perceptual differentiation during categorization learning by pigeons
In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained to categorize two sets of variable stimuli (black and white checkerboard patterns), constructed by random distortions of two prototype patterns. They were subsequently trained on new discriminations, between two new exemplars of their positive category, two new exemplars of their negative category, or two control checkerboard patterns. The new exemplars of their familiar categories were easier to discriminate than the wholly novel stimuli, although this difference was significant only for exemplars of their previously negative category. In Experiment 2, pigeons were initially trained on a discrimination between two prototype checkerboards; they subsequently learned to discriminate between two distortions of their negative prototype more rapidly than between two control patterns. Copyright 1996 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL (1995). A better beta model of navigation. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 48, 51-55.
McLaren IPL, Bennett CH, Guttman-Nahir T, Kim K, Mackintosh NJ (1995). Prototype Effects and Peak Shift in Categorization.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,
21(3), 662-673.
Abstract:
Prototype Effects and Peak Shift in Categorization
People asked to categorize exemplars of 2 categories often respond more accurately to the prototypes of those categories than to other exemplars. The authors suggest that this prototype effect may often have been confounded with a peak shift as is observed when pigeons are trained to discriminate between two wavelengths (S+ = 550 nm and S- = 560 nm), and the peak of their postdiscrimination gradient lies at 540 or 530 nm rather than at 550 nm. Three experiments established that a similar peak shift can occur when people are asked to categorize 2 sets of stimuli, but the authors also provide evidence of a true prototype effect uncontaminated by any peak shift. These results appear to pose considerable problems for exemplar-based theories of categorization. © 1995 American Psychological Association.
Abstract.
MCLAREN IPL (1994). ESTIMATING RECENCY AND FAMILIARITY USING TRACE STRENGTH.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL & STATISTICAL PSYCHOLOGY,
47, 227-234.
Author URL.
Rodrigo T, Chamizo VD, McLaren IPL, MacKintosh NJ (1994). Effects of preexposure to the Same or Different Pattern of Extra-maze Cues on Subsequent Extra-maze Discrimination.
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B,
47(1), 15-26.
Abstract:
Effects of preexposure to the Same or Different Pattern of Extra-maze Cues on Subsequent Extra-maze Discrimination
In two experiments, rats learned a spatial discrimination between maze arms defined by their relationship to a variety of extra-maze cues. Prior exposure to the actual arms between which animals were required to discriminate tended to retard subsequent learning (by comparison with a control group either given no preexposure to the extra-maze cues or exposed only to arms pointing in the opposite direction), whereas prior exposure to arms intermediate between those used in discrimination training tended to facilitate subsequent learning. These results are consistent with the suggestion that preexposure will facilitate discrimination learning when it reduces the associability of features or elements common to the stimuli between which animals are required to discriminate, more than it reduces the associability of the features or elements unique to each. © 1994 the Experimental Psychology Society
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Bennett C, Plaisted K, Aitken M, Mackintosh NJ (1994). Latent Inhibition, Context Specificity, and Context Familiarity.
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B,
47(4), 387-400.
Abstract:
Latent Inhibition, Context Specificity, and Context Familiarity
In two appetitive licking experiments, thirsty rats were pre-exposed to two stimuli prior to conditioning sessions in which one or both of these stimuli were paired with water. Consistent with other results, latent inhibition was disrupted when conditioning took place in a context different from that in which stimulus pre-exposure had occurred. But in animals given prior exposure to the context of stimulus pre-exposure before the start of stimulus pre-exposure, substantial and equivalent latent inhibition was evident whether or not there was a change of context between stimulus pre-exposure and conditioning. These results are discussed in terms of current theories of latent inhibition. © 1994, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
MCLAREN IPL, LEEVERS HJ, MACKINTOSH NJ (1994). RECOGNITION, CATEGORIZATION, AND PERCEPTUAL-LEARNING (OR, HOW LEARNING TO CLASSIFY THINGS TOGETHER HELPS ONE TO TELL THEM APART).
ATTENTION AND PERFORMANCE XV,
15, 889-909.
Author URL.
MCLAREN IPL (1993). APECS - a SOLUTION TO THE SEQUENTIAL LEARNING-PROBLEM.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, 717-722.
Author URL.
MCLAREN IPL (1993). PERCEPTUAL AND ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING - HALL,G. Q J EXP PSYCHOL-B, 46(1), 97-99.
McLaren IP, Dickinson A (1990). The conditioning connection.
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences,
329(1253), 179-186.
Abstract:
The conditioning connection.
In 1948 Konorski argued that conditioning reflects the strengthening of a connection between elements representing the signal and the reinforcer, as a result of the coincidence of activity in the signal element with a rise in activity in the reinforcer element. This Konorskian process represents one way of implementing an error-correcting learning rule and thus, unlike a simple Hebbian process, anticipates selective conditioning, such as that observed in Kamin's blocking procedure. However, the Konorskian process, in common with other error-correcting learning rules, fails to explain why blocking is attenuated by 'surprising' changes in reinforcement conditions that should not augment activity in the reinforcer element. Rather, the reinforcer-specificity of such unblocking suggests the operation of an associability process by which stored information about the past predictive history of the signal is expressed at the connection between signal and reinforcer elements to modulate changes in the connection weight.
Abstract.
Chapters
McLaren IPL, Verbruggen (2016). Association and Inhibition. In Murphy R, Honey R (Eds.) The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning.
McLaren IPL, Carpenter KL, Civile C, Mclaren R, Zhao D, Ku Y, Milton F, Verbruggen F (2016). Categorisation and Perceptual Learning: Why tDCS to Left DLPC Enhances Generalisation. In Trobalon JB, Chamizo VD (Eds.) , Associative Learning and Cognition, Homage to Prof. N.J. Mackintosh,: University of Barcelona.
McLaren I, Verbruggen F (2015). Association, Inhibition, and Action. In (Ed)
The Wiley Handbook on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning, 489-514.
Abstract:
Association, Inhibition, and Action
Abstract.
McLaren IPL (2011). APECS:An Adaptively Parameterised Model of Associative Learning and Memory. In Alonso E, Mondragn E (Eds.)
Computational Neuroscience for Advancing Artificial Intelligence, Medical Information Science Reference.
Abstract:
APECS:An Adaptively Parameterised Model of Associative Learning and Memory
Abstract.
Livesey EJ, McLaren IPL (2011). An elemental model of associative learning and memory. In Pothos EM, Wills AJ (Eds.)
Formal Approaches in Categorization, Cambridge Univ Pr.
Abstract:
An elemental model of associative learning and memory
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Wills AJ, Graham S (2010). Attention and Perceptual Learning. In Mitchell CJ, Pelley MEL (Eds.) Attention and Learning.
Suret MB, McLaren IPL (2005). Elemental Representation and Associability: an integrated model. In Wills AJ (Ed) New Directions in Human Associative Learning.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2005). The Role of Associative history in Human Causal Learning. In Wills AJ (Ed) New Directions in Human Associative Learning.
McLaren IPL, Green REA, Mackintosh NJ (1994). Animal learning and the implicit/explicit distinction. In Ellis NC (Ed) Implicit and explicit learning of languages, Academic Press.
McLaren IPL (1994). Representation development in associative systems. In Hogan JA, Bolhuis JJ (Eds.) Causal mechanisms of behavioural development, Cambridge University Press.
McLaren IPL, Kaye H, Mackintosh NJ (1989). An associative theory of the representation of stimuli: applications to perceptual learning and latent inhibition. In Morris RGM (Ed) Parallel Distributed Processing - Implications for Psychology and Neurobiology, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McLaren IPL (1989). The computational unit as an assembly of neurones: an implementation of an error correcting learning algorithm. In Durbin R, Miall C, Mitchison G (Eds.) The Computing Neuron, Amsterdam: Addison-Wesley.
Conferences
Johnson T, McLaren IPL (2022). Modelling Dual-Processes in a Connectionist Network.
Abstract:
Modelling Dual-Processes in a Connectionist Network
Abstract.
Humsani SAH, Civile C, McLaren IPL (2019). The Impact of Meta-memory Judgments on Undergraduate's Learning and Memory Performance.
Abstract:
The Impact of Meta-memory Judgments on Undergraduate's Learning and Memory Performance
Abstract.
Civile C, Wooster B, Curtis A, McLaren R, McLaren IPL, Lavric A (2019). Using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to modulate the face inversion effect on the N170 ERP component.
Abstract:
Using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to modulate the face inversion effect on the N170 ERP component
Abstract.
Bartlett M, Strivens A, Nicholson WG, McLaren R, McLaren IPL (2018). A Novel Measure of Changes in Force Applied to the Perruchet Effect.
Abstract:
A Novel Measure of Changes in Force Applied to the Perruchet Effect
Abstract.
Nicholson WG, Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL (2018). What can Associative Learning do for Driving?.
Abstract:
What can Associative Learning do for Driving?
Abstract.
Wood K, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2017). Does Associative Memory Play a Role in Solving Physics Problems?. Cognitive Science London. 26th - 29th Jul 2017.
Wood K, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2017). Does Associative Memory Play a Role in Solving Physics Problems?.
Abstract:
Does Associative Memory Play a Role in Solving Physics Problems?
Abstract.
Jones FW, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2017). Mindfulness and Fear Conditioning.
Abstract:
Mindfulness and Fear Conditioning
Abstract.
Jones FW, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2017). Mindfulness and Fear Conditioning. Cognitive Science London. 26th - 29th Jul 2017.
McAndrew A, Weidemann G, McLaren IPL (2013). Can US sensitization account for the electrodermal variant of the Perruchet effect?. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
Meier C, Lea SEG, Forrest CLD, Angerer K, McLaren IPL (2013). Comparative Evidence for Associative Learning in Task Switching. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
Bowditch WA, McLaren RP, McAndrew A, McLaren IPL (2013). Contextual Renewal and Awareness: Dissociating awareness within an electrodermal conditioning paradigm. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
McLaren RP, Jones FW, Yeates F, McLaren IPL (2013). Cue Competition in Human Associative Learning. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
McLaren IPL, Jones FW, McLaren RP, Yeates F (2013). Cue Competition in Human Incidental Learning. RLDM. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
Yeates F, Jones FW, Wills AJ, Aitken MRF, McLaren IPL (2013). Implicit Learning: a Demonstration and a Revision of a Novel SRT Paradigm. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
McAndrew A, Yeates F, Jones FW, Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL (2013). Modeling a reaction time variant of the Perruchet effect in humans. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
McLaren IPL, Wood K, McLaren RP (2013). Naïve Physics - the wrong theory?. 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
Civile C, Elchlepp H, McLaren RP, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2012). Face recognition and brain potentials: Disruption of configural information reduces the face inversion effect. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Yeates F, Jones FW, Wills AJ, Aitken MRF, McLaren IPL (2012). Implicit Learning: a Demonstration and a Novel SRT Paradigm. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Yeates F, Wills AJ, Jones FW, McLaren IPL (2012). State-Trace Analysis of Sequence Learning by Simple Recurrent Networks. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Forrest CLD, Elchlepp, Monsell, McLaren IPL (2012). Task switching without knowledge of the tasks. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Civile C, Elchlepp, McLaren RP, Lavric, McLaren IPL (2012). The face inversion effect and evoked brain potentials: Complete loss of configural information affects the N170. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Civile C, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2011). Perceptual learning and face recognition: Disruption of second order relational information reduces the face inversion effect. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2011.
McLaren IPL, Civile C (2011). Perceptual learning for a familiar category under inversion: an analogue of face inversion?. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2011.
Wills AJ, Barrasin TJ, McLaren IPL (2011). Working Memory Capacity and Generalization in Predictive Learning. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2011.
Suret M, McLaren IPL (2001). An Analogue of the Phillips Effect.
Publications by year
In Press
Bowditch WA, Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL (In Press). Associatively-Mediated Stopping: Training Stimulus-Specific Inhibitory Control. Learning and Behavior
Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL, Chambers CD (In Press). Banishing the control homunculi in studies of action control and behaviour change.
Perspectives on Psychological ScienceAbstract:
Banishing the control homunculi in studies of action control and behaviour change
For centuries, human self-control has fascinated scientists and nonscientists alike. Current theories often attribute it to an executive control system. But even though executive control receives a great deal of attention across disciplines, most aspects of it are still poorly understood. Many theories rely on an ill-defined set of ‘homunculi’ doing jobs like 'response inhibition' or ‘updating’ without explaining how they do so. Furthermore, it is not always appreciated that control takes place across different time-scales. These two issues hamper major advances. Here we focus on the mechanistic basis for the executive control of actions. We propose that at the most basic level, action control depends on three cognitive processes: signal detection, action selection, and action execution. These processes are modulated via error-correction or outcome-evaluation mechanisms, preparation, and task rules maintained in working- and long-term memory. We also consider how executive control of actions becomes automatised with practice, and how people develop a control network. Finally, we discuss how the application of this unified framework in clinical domains can increase our understanding of control deficits and provide a theoretical basis for the development of novel ‘behavioural change’ interventions.
Abstract.
Leaver L, Lea S, Chow P, McLaren I (In Press). Behavioral Flexibility: a review, a model and some exploratory tests. Learning and Behavior
Wills AJ, Graham S, Koh Z, McLaren IPL, Rolland MD (In Press). Effects of Concurrent Load on Feature- and Rule-based Generalization in Human Contingency Learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior ProcessesAbstract:
Effects of Concurrent Load on Feature- and Rule-based Generalization in Human Contingency Learning
The effect of concurrent load on generalization performance in human contingency learning was examined in two experiments that employed the combined positive and negative patterning procedure of Shanks and Darby (1998). In Experiment 1 we tested 32 undergraduates and found that participants who were trained and tested under full attention showed generalization consistent with the application of an opposites rule (i.e. single cues signal the opposite outcome to their compound), whilst participants trained and tested under a concurrent cognitive load showed generalization consistent with surface similarity. In Experiment 2, we replicated the effect with 148 undergraduates, and provided evidence that it was the presence of concurrent load during training, rather than during testing, that was critical. Implications for associative, inferential, and dual-process accounts of human learning are discussed.
Abstract.
Best M, McLaren IPL, Verbruggen F (In Press). Instructed and acquired contingencies in response-inhibition tasks. Journal of Cognition
Meier C, Lea SEG, McLaren IPL (In Press). Pigeons in Control of their Actions: Learning and Performance in Stop-Signal and Change-Signal Tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Lea SEG, Chow K-Y, Meier C, McLaren I, Verbruggen F (In Press). Pigeons’ performance in a tracking change-signal procedure is consistent with the independent horse-race mode. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Livesey EJ, McLaren IPL (In Press). Revisiting peak shift on an artificial dimension: Effects of stimulus variability on generalization. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Best M, Lawrence NS, Logan GD, McLaren IPL, Verbruggen F (In Press). Should I stop or should I go? the role of associations and expectancies.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,
in pressAbstract:
Should I stop or should I go? the role of associations and expectancies
Following exposure to consistent stimulus-stop mappings, response inhibition can become automatized with practice. What is learned is less clear, even though this has important theoretical and practical implications. A recent analysis indicates that stimuli can become associated with a stop signal or with a stop ‘goal’. Furthermore, expectancy may play an important role. Previous studies that have used stop or no-go signals to manipulate stimulus-stop learning cannot distinguish between stimulus-signal and stimulus-goal associations, and expectancy has not been measured properly. In the present study, participants performed a task that combined features of the go/no-go task and the stop- signal task in which the stop-signal rule changed at the beginning of each block. The go and stop signals were superimposed over forty task-irrelevant images. Our results show that participants can learn direct associations between images and the stop goal without mediation via the stop signal. Exposure to the image-stop associations influenced task performance during training, and the expectancies measured following task completion or measured within the task. But, despite this, we found an effect of stimulus-stop associations on test performance only when the task increased the task-relevance of the images. This could indicate that the influence of stimulus-stop learning on go performance is strongly influenced by attention to both task-relevant and task-irrelevant stimulus features. More generally, our findings suggest a strong interplay between ‘automatic’ and ‘controlled’ processes.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Graham S, Jie HL, Minn CH, McLaren IPL, Wills AJ (In Press). Simultaneous Backward Conditioned Inhibition and Mediated Conditioning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior ProcessesAbstract:
Simultaneous Backward Conditioned Inhibition and Mediated Conditioning
Demonstrations of backward blocking suggest that remembered stimuli undergo a reduction in association with the unconditioned stimulus present during learning. Conversely, demonstrations of mediated conditioning in flavor conditioning experiments with rats suggest that remembered stimuli undergo an increase in association with the US present during learning. In a study of food allergy predictions in 23 undergraduates we demonstrated simultaneous backward conditioned inhibition and mediated conditioning effects. These results suggest that the direction of change (decrease or increase) in associative strength depends on whether the remembered stimulus was of a different category (CS / antecedent) or the same category (US / outcome) as the presented US respectively.
Abstract.
Verbruggen F, Chambers CD, Lawrence NS, McLaren IPL (In Press). Winning and losing: Effects on impulsive action.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance,
in pressAbstract:
Winning and losing: Effects on impulsive action
In the present study, we examined the effect of wins and losses on impulsive action in gambling (Experiments 1-3) and non-gambling tasks (Experiments 4-5). In each experiment, subjects performed a simple task in which they had to win points. On each trial, they had to choose between a gamble and a non-gamble. The gamble was always associated with a higher amount but a lower probability of winning than the non-gamble. After subjects indicated their choice (i.e. gamble or not), feedback was presented. They had to press a key to start the next trial. Experiments 1-3 showed that, compared to the non-gambling baseline, subjects were faster to initiate the next trial after a gambled loss, indicating that losses can induce impulsive actions. In Experiments 4 and 5, subjects alternated between the gambling task and a neutral decision-making task in which they could not win or lose points. Subjects were faster in the neutral decision-making task if they had just lost in the gambling task, suggesting that losses have a general effect on action. Our results challenge the dominant idea that humans become more cautious after suboptimal outcomes. Instead, they indicate that losses in the context of potential rewards are emotional events that increase impulsivity.
Abstract.
2023
McCourt S, McLaren IPL, Civile C (2023). Changing face contours reduces the inversion effect and overall recognition performance. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 4, 100115-100115.
Civile C, McLaren I (2023). Modulating perceptual learning indexed by the Face Inversion Effect: Simulating the application of transcranial Direct Current
Stimulation (tDCS) using the MKM Model. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 49, 139-150.
2022
Civile C (2022). Investigating the Composite Effect in prototype-defined checkerboards vs. faces. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Toronto, ON: Cognitive Science Society
Civile C (2022). Manipulating the face contour affects face recognition performance leaving the Face Inversion Effect unaltered. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Toronto, ON: Cognitive Science Society.
Johnson T, McLaren IPL (2022). Modelling Dual-Processes in a Connectionist Network.
Abstract:
Modelling Dual-Processes in a Connectionist Network
Abstract.
Civile C, McLaren I (2022). Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) eliminates the Other-Race Effect (ORE) indexed by the Face Inversion Effect for own vs other-race faces.
Scientific ReportsAbstract:
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) eliminates the Other-Race Effect (ORE) indexed by the Face Inversion Effect for own vs other-race faces
We investigate here individuals’ reduced ability to recognise faces from other racial backgrounds, a robust phenomenon named the other-race effect (ORE). In this literature the term “race” is used to refer to visually distinct ethnic groups. In our study, we will refer to two of such groups: Western Caucasian (also known as White European) and East Asian e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean. This study applied the tDCS procedure (double-blind, 10mins duration, 1.5mA intensity, targeting Fp3 location), we have developed in the perceptual learning literature, specifically used to remove the expertise component of the face inversion effect (FIE), which consists of higher recognition performance for upright than inverted faces. In the tDCS-sham condition (N=48) we find a robust ORE i.e. significantly larger FIE for own vs other-race faces due to higher performance for upright own-race faces. Critically, in the anodal-tDCS condition (N=48) the FIE for own-race faces was significantly reduced compared to sham due to impaired performance for upright faces thus eliminating the cross-race interaction index of the ORE. Our results support the major role that perceptual expertise, manifesting through perceptual learning, has in determining the ORE indexed by the FIE.
Abstract.
Civile C, McLaren I (2022). Using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to influence decision criterion in a target detection paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
2021
Johnson T, McLaren R, Civile C, McLaren IPL (2021). Dual processes on dual dimensions: Associative and propositionally-mediated discrimination and peak shift. In T. Fitch, C. Lamm, H. Leder, & K. Teßmar-Raible (Eds.), Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 3136-3142.
McLaren R, Civile C, McLaren I (2021). Latent Inhibition in Young Children: a Developmental Effect?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 63-73.
McCourt S, McLaren IPL, Civile C (2021). Perceptual processes of face recognition: Single feature orientation and holistic information contribute to the face inversion effect. In T. Fitch, C. Lamm, H. Leder, & K. Teßmar-Raible (Eds.), Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 728-734.
Delameter A, Civile C, McLaren I (2021). Special Issue on Recent Advances in Perceptual Learning: Editorial. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 1-3.
Civile C, McLaren R, Milton F, McLaren I (2021). The Effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Perceptual Learning for Upright Faces and its Role in the Composite Face Effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 47, 74-90.
Waguri E, McLaren R, McLaren IPL, Civile C (2021). Using prototype-defined checkerboards to investigate the mechanisms contributing to the Composite Face Effect. In T. Fitch, C. Lamm, H. Leder, & K. Teßmar-Raible (Eds.), Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 1236-1242.
Civile C, Quaglia S, Waguri E, Ward M, McLaren R, McLaren I (2021). Using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to investigate why Faces are and are Not Special. Scientific Reports
2020
Civile C (2020). A novel target detection task using artificial stimuli: the effect of familiarity. Proceedings of the 42st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 3349-3355.
Civile C, Chamizo VD, Artigas A, McLaren IPL (2020). Directional cue and landmark configurations: the effect of rotating one set of landmarks relative to another. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Meier C, Lea SEG, McLaren IPL (2020). Measuring response inhibition with a continuous inhibitory-control task. Learning & Behavior, 48(1), 149-164.
Monsell S, McLaren I (2020). PEP Does Not Dispense with but Implements Task-Set Reconfiguration. Can it Handle Phenomena More Diagnostic of Endogenous Control?. Journal of Cognition, 3(1).
Civile C, Waguri E, Quaglia S, Wooster B, Curtis A, McLaren R, Lavric A, McLaren I (2020). Testing the effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on the Face Inversion Effect and the N170 Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) component. Neuropsychologia
Civile C (2020). Testing the immediate effects of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on face recognition skills. Proceedings of the 42st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 1141-1147.
Milton F, McLaren IPL, Copestake E, Satherley D, Wills AJ (2020). The effect of pre-exposure on overall similarity categorization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 46, 65-82.
Civile C, Cooke A, Liu X, McLaren R, Elchlepp H, Lavric A, Milton F, McLaren I (2020). The effect of tDCS on recognition depends on stimulus generalization: Neuro-stimulation can predictably enhance or reduce the face inversion effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 46, 83-98.
Cooke A (2020). The influence of neurostimulation on stimulus discrimination:. tDCS at Fp3 can modulate old / new recognition and target detection for faces and chequerboards.
Abstract:
The influence of neurostimulation on stimulus discrimination:. tDCS at Fp3 can modulate old / new recognition and target detection for faces and chequerboards.
This paper reports the results of three experiments investigating the effect of transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), a form of neurostimulation, on stimulus discrimination in an ‘old/new recognition’ and a target detection task. Experiment 1 presents regular faces alongside a set of manipulated faces, Thatcherised faces, or familiar chequerboards; showing that anodal stimulation can selectively increase or reduce the face inversion effect for regular faces simply by changing the accompanying stimuli. That tDCS can reliably disrupt or enhance performance on an index of facial recognition as robust as the face inversion effect is a significant finding. Experiment 1 also provides the first direct evidence that a set of manipulated faces generalise onto regular faces and do so sufficiently to reduce the inversion effect in the latter. The results are interpreted, using a theory of representational development known as the McLaren, Kaye and Mackintosh (MKM) model, as tDCS altering error-based salience modulation with the effect of enhancing generalisation between within-category stimuli. Experiment 2 extends the analysis offered to a detection task with ‘realistic’ and standardised faces while Experiment 3 presents familiar chequerboards in the same task. The results show that anodal stimulation has a different effect to that in the ‘old/new recognition’ task, having no significant effect on sensitivity but an unexpected effect on response bias.
Abstract.
2019
McLaren R, McLaren IPL, Civile C (2019). Pre-exposure and learning in young children: Evidence of latent inhibition?. In A.K. Goel, C.M. Seifert, & C. Freska (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Montreal, QB: Cognitive Science Society., 2332-2337.
Humsani SAH, Civile C, McLaren IPL (2019). The Impact of Meta-memory Judgments on Undergraduate's Learning and Memory Performance.
Abstract:
The Impact of Meta-memory Judgments on Undergraduate's Learning and Memory Performance
Abstract.
Nicholson W (2019). The Role of Associatively-Mediated Processes in Shaping Driving Behaviour: How Experience of Contingencies Interacts with Response Inhibition.
Abstract:
The Role of Associatively-Mediated Processes in Shaping Driving Behaviour: How Experience of Contingencies Interacts with Response Inhibition
Driving is a necessary, but inherently risky, daily activity. One behaviour exacerbating these risks occurs when drivers illegally cross amber traffic lights, and an improved ability to inhibit this behaviour would promote safer driving. This type of inhibitory control has previously been conceptualised as being itself under conscious control, and therefore requiring deliberate thought and intention. However, driving is cognitively demanding, and this is likely to reduce the ability to maintain the intention to inhibit the amber-crossing response. Recent research has demonstrated that response inhibition can become associatively-mediated with the right type of training and is thus not exclusively reliant on control processes. This finding has led to the development of inhibition training techniques to develop associatively-mediated inhibitory responses to cues that might lead to an incorrect behaviour. However, it is unclear to what extent this work could be generalised to driving. The first question addressed in this thesis centres on what kind of behaviour at traffic lights might be primed as a result of experiencing the contingencies produced at traffic light-controlled junctions. The second focuses on how training could be developed to change the products of this learning so that it primes safer behaviours.
Chapter One introduces the theoretical background to the thesis and includes a discussion of dual-process models of associative learning and associatively-mediated inhibition. Chapters Two and Three ask what is learnt at an associative level at traffic lights. Chapter Two begins the development of a laboratory paradigm that aims to capture the contingencies linked to traffic lights, and Chapter Three continues this by introducing sequences into the paradigm. Chapter Four investigates the importance of task set for associative learning and begins the development of a training task to change the learnt associative behaviour towards amber traffic lights. This work is continued in Chapter Five where the task is taken out of a pure associative learning context and applied in a real-world intervention. Finally, Chapter Six summarises the empirical work and links it to the theories and issues introduced in Chapter One.
Abstract.
Haselgrove M, McLaren IPL (2019). The psychology of associative learning: Editorial.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY,
72(2), 93-97.
Author URL.
Civile C, Wooster B, Curtis A, McLaren R, McLaren IPL, Lavric A (2019). Using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to modulate the face inversion effect on the N170 ERP component.
Abstract:
Using transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to modulate the face inversion effect on the N170 ERP component
Abstract.
2018
Bartlett M, Strivens A, Nicholson WG, McLaren R, McLaren IPL (2018). A Novel Measure of Changes in Force Applied to the Perruchet Effect.
Abstract:
A Novel Measure of Changes in Force Applied to the Perruchet Effect
Abstract.
Bartlett M, Strivens A, Nicholson W, McLaren R, McLaren IPL (2018). A novel measure of changes in force applied to the Perruchet Effect. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 1325-1331.
Civile C, McLaren R, McLaren IPL (2018). How We can Change Your Mind: Anodal tDCS to Fp3 alters human stimulus representation and learning. Neuropsychologia
McLaren IPL, McAndrew A, Angerer K, McLaren R, Forrest C, Bowditch W, Monsell S, Verbruggen F (2018). Mackintosh lecture—: Association and cognition: Two processes, one system. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Civile C, Obhi SS, McLaren IPL (2018). The Role of Experience-based Perceptual Learning in the Face Inversion Effect. Vision Research, 157, 84-88.
Civile C, Elchlepp H, McLaren RP, Galang CM, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2018). The effect of scrambling upright and inverted faces on the N170. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
Nicholson W, Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL (2018). What can Associative Learning do for Driving?. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2152-2158.
Nicholson WG, Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL (2018). What can Associative Learning do for Driving?.
Abstract:
What can Associative Learning do for Driving?
Abstract.
2017
Wood K, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2017). Does Associative Memory Play a Role in Solving Physics Problems?. Cognitive Science London. 26th - 29th Jul 2017.
Wood K, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2017). Does Associative Memory Play a Role in Solving Physics Problems?.
Abstract:
Does Associative Memory Play a Role in Solving Physics Problems?
Abstract.
Jones FW, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2017). Mindfulness and Fear Conditioning.
Abstract:
Mindfulness and Fear Conditioning
Abstract.
Jones FW, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2017). Mindfulness and Fear Conditioning. Cognitive Science London. 26th - 29th Jul 2017.
Civile C (2017). Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and the Face Inversion Effect: Anodal stimulation at Fp3 reduces recognition for upright faces. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society., 1782-1787.
Civile C, Obhi S, McLaren IPL (2017). Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and the Face Inversion Effect: Anodal stimulation at Fp3 reduces recognition for upright faces. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society., 1782-1787.
2016
Meier C, Lea SEG, McLaren IPL (2016). A stimulus-location effect in contingency-governed, but not rule-based, discrimination learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition,
42(2), 177-186.
Abstract:
A stimulus-location effect in contingency-governed, but not rule-based, discrimination learning
We tested pigeons' acquisition of a conditional discrimination task between coloured grating stimuli that included choosing one of two response keys, which either appeared as white keys to the left and right of the discriminative stimulus, or were replicas of the stimulus. Pigeons failed to acquire the discrimination when the response keys were white disks but succeeded when directly responding to a replica of the stimulus. These results highlight how conditioning processes shape learning in pigeons: the results can be accounted for by supposing that, when pigeons were allowed to respond directly towards the stimulus, learning was guided by classical conditioning; responding to white keys demanded instrumental learning, which impaired task acquisition for pigeons. In contrast, humans completing the same paradigm showed no differential learning success depending on whether figure or position indicated the correct key. However, only participants who could state the underlying discrimination rule acquired the task, which implies that human performance in this situation relied on the deduction and application of task rules instead of associative processes.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Verbruggen (2016). Association and Inhibition. In Murphy R, Honey R (Eds.) The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning.
McLaren IPL, Carpenter KL, Civile C, Mclaren R, Zhao D, Ku Y, Milton F, Verbruggen F (2016). Categorisation and Perceptual Learning: Why tDCS to Left DLPC Enhances Generalisation. In Trobalon JB, Chamizo VD (Eds.) , Associative Learning and Cognition, Homage to Prof. N.J. Mackintosh,: University of Barcelona.
Weidemann G, McAndrew A, Livesey EJ, McLaren IPL (2016). Evidence for multiple processes contributing to the Perruchet effect: Response priming and associative learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition
Verbruggen F, McAndrew A, Weidemann G, Stevens T, McLaren IPL (2016). Limits of Executive Control: Sequential Effects in Predictable Environments.
Psychological Science,
27(5), 748-757.
Abstract:
Limits of Executive Control: Sequential Effects in Predictable Environments
Cognitive control theories attribute action control to executive processes that modulate behavior based
on expectancy or task rules. Here we examined corticospinal excitability and behavioral performance
in a go/no-go task. Go and no-go trials were presented in runs of 5, and runs alternated predictably. At
the beginning of each trial, subjects indicated whether they expected a go trial or a no-go trial.
Analyses revealed that subjects immediately adjusted their expectancy ratings when a new run started.
However, motor excitability was primarily associated with the properties of the previous trial, rather
than the predicted properties of the current trial. We also observed a large go latency cost at the
beginning of a go run. These findings indicate that actions in predictable environments are
substantially influenced by previous events, even if this goes against conscious expectancies about
upcoming events.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Civile C, Verbruggen, McLaren, Zhao D, Ku Y, McLaren IPL (2016). Switching off perceptual learning: tDCS to left DLPFC eliminates perceptual learning in humans. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition, 290-296.
Meier C, Lea SEG, McLaren IPL (2016). Task-Switching in Pigeons: Associative Learning or Executive Control?.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition,
42(2), 163-176.
Abstract:
Task-Switching in Pigeons: Associative Learning or Executive Control?
Human performance in task-switching paradigms is seen as a hallmark of executive-control processes: switching between tasks induces switch costs (such that performance when changing from Task a to Task B is worse than on trials where the task repeats), which is generally attributed to executive control suppressing one task-set and activating the other. However, even in cases where task-sets are not employed, as well as in computational modelling of task switching, switch costs can still be found. This observation has led to the hypothesis that associative-learning processes might be responsible for all or part of the switch cost in task-switching paradigms. To test which cognitive processes contribute to the presence of task-switch costs, pigeons performed two different tasks on the same set of stimuli in rapid alternation. The pigeons showed no sign of switch costs, even though performance on trial N was influenced by trial N-1, showing that they were sensitive to sequential effects. Using Pearce's (1987) model for stimulus generalisation, we conclude that they learned the task associatively - in particular, a form of Pavlovian-conditioned approach was involved - and that this was responsible for the lack of any detectable switch costs. Pearce's model also allows us to make interferences about the common occurrence of switch costs in the absence of task-sets in human participants and in computational models, in that they are likely due to instrumental learning and the establishment of an equivalence between cues signalling the same task.
Abstract.
Civile C, McLaren R, McLaren IPL (2016). The face inversion effect: Roles of first-and second-order configural information.
American Journal of Psychology,
129(1), 23-35.
Abstract:
The face inversion effect: Roles of first-and second-order configural information
© 2016 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. The face inversion effect (FIE) is a reduction in recognition performance for inverted faces compared with upright faces. Several studies have proposed that a type of configural information, called second-order relational information, becomes more important with increasing expertise and gives rise to the FIE. However, recently it has been demonstrated that it is possible to obtain an FIE with facial features presented in isolation, showing that configural information is not necessary for this effect to occur. In this article we test whether there is a role for configural information in producing the FIE and whether second-or first-order relational information is particularly important. In Experiment 1, we investigated the role of configural information and local feature orientation by using a new type of "Thatcherizing" transformation on our set of faces, aiming to disrupt second-order and local feature orientation information but keeping all first-order properties unaltered. The results showed a significant reduction in the FIE for these "new" Thatcherized faces, but it did not entirely disappear. Experiment 2 confirmed the FIE for new Thatcherized faces, and Experiment 3 establishes that both local feature orientation and first-order relational information have a role in determining the FIE.
Abstract.
2015
McLaren I, Verbruggen F (2015). Association, Inhibition, and Action. In (Ed)
The Wiley Handbook on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Learning, 489-514.
Abstract:
Association, Inhibition, and Action
Abstract.
Yeates F, Wills AJ, Jones FW, Mclaren IPL (2015). State-Trace Analysis: Dissociable Processes in a Connectionist Network?.
Cognitive Science,
39(5), 1047-1061.
Abstract:
State-Trace Analysis: Dissociable Processes in a Connectionist Network?
Some argue the common practice of inferring multiple processes or systems from a dissociation is flawed (Dunn, 2003). One proposed solution is state-trace analysis (Bamber, 1979), which involves plotting, across two or more conditions of interest, performance measured by either two dependent variables, or two conditions of the same dependent measure. The resulting analysis is considered to provide evidence that either (a) a single process underlies performance (one function is produced) or (b) there is evidence for more than one process (more than one function is produced). This article reports simulations using the simple recurrent network (SRN; Elman, 1990) in which changes to the learning rate produced state-trace plots with multiple functions. We also report simulations using a single-layer error-correcting network that generate plots with a single function. We argue that the presence of different functions on a state-trace plot does not necessarily support a dual-system account, at least as typically defined (e.g. two separate autonomous systems competing to control responding); it can also indicate variation in a single parameter within theories generally considered to be single-system accounts.
Abstract.
2014
McLaren IPL, Forrest CLD, McLaren RP, Jones FW, Aitken MRF, Mackintosh NJ (2014). Associations and propositions: the case for a dual-process account of learning in humans.
Neurobiol Learn Mem,
108, 185-195.
Abstract:
Associations and propositions: the case for a dual-process account of learning in humans.
We review evidence that supports the conclusion that people can and do learn in two distinct ways - one associative, the other propositional. No one disputes that we solve problems by testing hypotheses and inducing underlying rules, so the issue amounts to deciding whether there is evidence that we (and other animals) also rely on a simpler, associative system, that detects the frequency of occurrence of different events in our environment and the contingencies between them. There is neuroscientific evidence that associative learning occurs in at least some animals (e.g. Aplysia californica), so it must be the case that associative learning has evolved. Since both associative and propositional theories can in principle account for many instances of successful learning, the problem is then to show that there are at least some cases where the two classes of theory predict different outcomes. We offer a demonstration of cue competition effects in humans under incidental conditions as evidence against the argument that all such effects are based on cognitive inference. The latter supposition would imply that if the necessary information is unavailable to inference then no cue competition should occur. We then discuss the case of unblocking by reinforcer omission, where associative theory predicts an irrational solution to the problem, and consider the phenomenon of the Perruchet effect, in which conscious expectancy and conditioned response dissociate. Further discussion makes use of evidence that people will sometimes provide one solution to a problem when it is presented to them in summary form, and another when they are presented in rapid succession with trial-by trial information. We also demonstrate that people trained on a discrimination may show a peak shift (predicted by associative theory), but given the time and opportunity to detect the relationships between S+ and S-, show rule-based behavior instead. Finally, we conclude by presenting evidence that research on individual differences suggests that variation in intelligence and explicit problem solving ability are quite unrelated to variation in implicit (associative) learning, and briefly consider the computational implications of our argument, by asking how both associative and propositional processes can be accommodated within a single framework for cognition.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Stevens T, Brevers D, Chambers CD, Lavric A, McLaren IPL, Mertens M, Noël X, Verbruggen F (2014). How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied,
in pressAbstract:
How does response inhibition influence decision-making when gambling?
Recent research suggests that response-inhibition training can alter impulsive and compulsive behaviour. When stop signals are introduced in a gambling task, people not only become more cautious when executing their choice responses, they also prefer lower bets when gambling. Here we examined how stopping motor responses influences gambling. Experiment 1 showed that the reduced betting in stop-signal blocks was not caused by changes in information sampling styles or changes in arousal. In Experiments 2a-2b, people preferred lower bets when they occasionally had to stop their response in a secondary decision-making task, but not when they were instructed to respond as accurately as possible. Experiment 3 showed that merely introducing trials on which subjects could not gamble did not influence gambling preferences. Experiment 4 demonstrated that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to different populations. Furthermore, two combined analyses suggest that the effect of stopping on gambling preferences was reliable but small. Finally, Experiment 5 showed that the effect of stopping on gambling generalised to a different task. Based on our findings and earlier research we propose that the presence of stop signals influences gambling by reducing approach behaviour and altering the motivational value of the gambling outcome.
Abstract.
Forrest CLD, Monsell S, McLaren IPL (2014). Is performance in task-cuing experiments mediated by task set selection or associative compound retrieval?.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn,
40(4), 1002-1024.
Abstract:
Is performance in task-cuing experiments mediated by task set selection or associative compound retrieval?
Task-cuing experiments are usually intended to explore control of task set. But when small stimulus sets are used, they plausibly afford learning of the response associated with a combination of cue and stimulus, without reference to tasks. In 3 experiments we presented the typical trials of a task-cuing experiment: a cue (colored shape) followed, after a short or long interval, by a digit to which 1 of 2 responses was required. In a tasks condition, participants were (as usual) directed to interpret the cue as an instruction to perform either an odd/even or a high/low classification task. In a cue + stimulus → response (CSR) condition, to induce learning of mappings between cue-stimulus compound and response, participants were, in Experiment 1, given standard task instructions and additionally encouraged to learn the CSR mappings; in Experiment 2, informed of all the CSR mappings and asked to learn them, without standard task instructions; in Experiment 3, required to learn the mappings by trial and error. The effects of a task switch, response congruence, preparation, and transfer to a new set of stimuli differed substantially between the conditions in ways indicative of classification according to task rules in the tasks condition, and retrieval of responses specific to stimulus-cue combinations in the CSR conditions. Qualitative features of the latter could be captured by an associative learning network. Hence associatively based compound retrieval can serve as the basis for performance with a small stimulus set. But when organization by tasks is apparent, control via task set selection is the natural and efficient strategy.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Civile C, Zhao D, Ku Y, Elchlepp H, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2014). Perceptual learning and inversion effects: Recognition of prototype-defined familiar checkerboards.
J Exp Psychol Anim Learn Cogn,
40(2), 144-161.
Abstract:
Perceptual learning and inversion effects: Recognition of prototype-defined familiar checkerboards.
The face inversion effect is a defection in performance in recognizing inverted faces compared with faces presented in their usual upright orientation typically believed to be specific for facial stimuli. McLaren (1997) was able to demonstrate that (a) an inversion effect could be obtained with exemplars drawn from a familiar category, such that upright exemplars were better discriminated than inverted exemplars; and (b) that the inversion effect required that the familiar category be prototype-defined. In this article, we replicate and extend these findings. We show that the inversion effect can be obtained in a standard old/new recognition memory paradigm, demonstrate that it is contingent on familiarization with a prototype-defined category, and establish that the effect is made up of two components. We confirm the advantage for upright exemplars drawn from a familiar, prototype-defined category, and show that there is a disadvantage for inverted exemplars drawn from this category relative to suitable controls. We also provide evidence that there is an N170 event-related potential signature for this effect. These results allow us to integrate a theory of perceptual learning originally proposed by McLaren, Kaye, and Mackintosh (1989) with explanations of the face inversion effect, first reported by Yin.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Civile C, Chamizo VD, Mackintosh NJ, McLaren IPL (2014). The effect of disrupting configural information on rats' performance in the Morris water maze.
Learning and MotivationAbstract:
The effect of disrupting configural information on rats' performance in the Morris water maze
Many experiments on spatial navigation suggest that a rat uses the configuration of extra-maze landmarks to guide its choice of arm or location to visit. In the present study, based on Chamizo Rodríguez, Espinet, and Mackintosh's (2012) navigation paradigm, we conducted a series of experiments in which we focused on how changes to the configuration of stimuli surrounding the maze, implemented by transposing the location of both near and far landmarks, significantly affected rats' performance (Experiment1, Test Phase 1). Subsequent tests demonstrated that it was the near landmarks that played the major role in this navigation task (Experiment 1, Test Phases 2 and 3). Experiment 2 provided evidence for a novel type of inversion effect in the water maze, by showing that rotation by 180° of the location of one set of landmarks relative to a directional cue also strongly affected performance. © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
Civile C, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2014). The face inversion effect--parts and wholes: individual features and their configuration.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove),
67(4), 728-746.
Abstract:
The face inversion effect--parts and wholes: individual features and their configuration.
The face inversion effect (FIE) is a reduction in recognition performance for inverted faces (compared to upright faces) that is greater than that typically observed with other stimulus types (e.g. houses). The work of Diamond and Carey, suggests that a special type of configural information, "second-order relational information" is critical in generating this inversion effect. However, Tanaka and Farah concluded that greater reliance on second-order relational information did not directly result in greater sensitivity to inversion, and they suggested that the FIE is not entirely due to a reliance on this type of configural information. A more recent review by McKone and Yovel provides a meta-analysis that makes a similar point. In this paper, we investigated the contributions made by configural and featural information to the FIE. Experiments 1a and1b investigated the link between configural information and the FIE. Remarkably, Experiment 1b showed that disruption of all configural information of the type considered in Diamond and Carey's analysis (both first and second order) was effective in reducing recognition performance, but did not significantly impact on the FIE. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that face processing is affected by the orientation of individual features and that this plays a major role in producing the FIE. The FIE was only completely eliminated when we disrupted the single feature orientation information in addition to the configural information, by using a new type of transformation similar to Thatcherizing our sets of scrambled faces. We conclude by noting that our results for scrambled faces are consistent with an account that has recognition performance entirely determined by the proportion of upright facial features within a stimulus, and that any ability to make use of the spatial configuration of these features seems to benefit upright and inverted normal faces alike.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Verbruggen F, Best M, Bowditch WA, Stevens T, McLaren IPL (2014). The inhibitory control reflex.
Neuropsychologia,
65, 263-278.
Abstract:
The inhibitory control reflex
Response inhibition is typically considered a hallmark of deliberate executive control. In this article, we review work showing that response inhibition can also become a ‘prepared reflex’, readily triggered by information in the environment, or after sufficient training, a ‘learned reflex’ triggered by the retrieval of previously acquired associations between stimuli and stopping. We present new results indicating that people can learn various associations, which influence performance in different ways. To account for previous findings and our new results, we present a novel architecture that integrates theories of associative learning, Pavlovian conditioning, and executive response inhibition. Finally, we discuss why this work is also relevant for the study of ‘intentional inhibition’.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Dunn BD, Lawrence NS, Milton FN, Verbruggen F, Stevens T, McAndrew A, Yeates F (2014). Why decision making may not require awareness. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(1), 35-36.
2013
Verbruggen F, Adams RC, van 't Wout F, Stevens T, McLaren IPL, Chambers CD (2013). Are the effects of response inhibition on gambling long-lasting?.
PLoS One,
8(7).
Abstract:
Are the effects of response inhibition on gambling long-lasting?
A recent study has shown that short-term training in response inhibition can make people more cautious for up to two hours when making decisions. However, the longevity of such training effects is unclear. In this study we tested whether training in the stop-signal paradigm reduces risky gambling when the training and gambling task are separated by 24 hours. Two independent experiments revealed that the aftereffects of stop-signal training are negligible after 24 hours. This was supported by Bayes factors that provided strong support for the null hypothesis. These findings indicate the need to better optimise the parameters of inhibition training to achieve clinical efficacy, potentially by strengthening automatic associations between specific stimuli and stopping.
Abstract.
Author URL.
McAndrew A, Weidemann G, McLaren IPL (2013). Can US sensitization account for the electrodermal variant of the Perruchet effect?. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
Meier C, Lea SEG, Forrest CLD, Angerer K, McLaren IPL (2013). Comparative Evidence for Associative Learning in Task Switching. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
Bowditch WA, McLaren RP, McAndrew A, McLaren IPL (2013). Contextual Renewal and Awareness: Dissociating awareness within an electrodermal conditioning paradigm. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
McLaren RP, Jones FW, Yeates F, McLaren IPL (2013). Cue Competition in Human Associative Learning. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
McLaren IPL, Jones FW, McLaren RP, Yeates F (2013). Cue Competition in Human Incidental Learning. RLDM. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
Natal SDC, McLaren IPL, Livesey EJ (2013). Generalization of Feature- and Rule-Based Learning in the Categorization of Dimensional Stimuli: Evidence for Dual Processes Under Cognitive Control.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-ANIMAL BEHAVIOR PROCESSES,
39(2), 140-151.
Author URL.
Yeates F, Jones FW, Wills AJ, Aitken MRF, McLaren IPL (2013). Implicit Learning: a Demonstration and a Revision of a Novel SRT Paradigm. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
McAndrew A, Yeates F, Jones FW, Verbruggen F, McLaren IPL (2013). Modeling a reaction time variant of the Perruchet effect in humans. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
Yeates F, Jones FW, Wills AJ, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2013). Modeling human sequence learning under incidental conditions.
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process,
39(2), 166-173.
Abstract:
Modeling human sequence learning under incidental conditions.
This research explored the role that associative learning may play in human sequence learning. Two-choice serial reaction time tasks were performed under incidental conditions using 2 different sequences. In both cases, an experimental group was trained on 4 subsequences: LLL, LRL, RLR, and RRR for Group "Same" and LLR, LRR, RLL, and RRL for Group "Different," with left and right counterbalanced across participants. To control for sequential effects, we assayed sequence learning by comparing their performance with that of a control group, which had been trained on a pseudorandom ordering, during a test phase in which both experimental and control groups experienced the same subsequences. Participants in both groups showed sequence learning, but the group trained on "different" learned more and more rapidly. This result is the opposite that predicted by the augmented simple recurrent network used by F. W. Jones and I. P. L. McLaren (2009, Human sequence learning under incidental and intentional conditions, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, Vol. 35, pp. 538-553), but can be modeled using a reparameterized version of this network that also includes a more realistic representation of the stimulus array, suggesting that the latter may be a better model of human sequence learning under incidental conditions.
Abstract.
Author URL.
McLaren IPL, Wood K, McLaren RP (2013). Naïve Physics - the wrong theory?. 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. 1st - 1st Jan 2013.
2012
McAndrew A, Jones FW, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2012). Dissociating expectancy of shock and changes in skin conductance: an investigation of the Perruchet effect using an electrodermal paradigm.
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process,
38(2), 203-208.
Abstract:
Dissociating expectancy of shock and changes in skin conductance: an investigation of the Perruchet effect using an electrodermal paradigm.
Is human Pavlovian conditioning driven by a unitary, propositional system (as claimed by Mitchell, De Houwer, & Lovibond, 2009) or by dual systems; one under conscious control, symbolic in nature, and requiring effort to deploy, and the other utilizing associative processes and automatic in its operation (McLaren, Green, & Mackintosh, 1994)? Past research has suggested that for electrodermal conditioning to occur in humans, conscious awareness of the contingencies is necessary to produce conditioned responding (e.g. Hinchy, Lovibond, & Ter-Horst, 1995), as predicted by single process theories that attribute the conditioned response (CR) to conscious expectancy of the shock. In this article, the authors examined the Perruchet effect (Perruchet, 1985), using an electrodermal paradigm to determine whether there is any role for associative processes in human electrodermal conditioning. The authors attempted to replicate the basic effect, whereby expectancy of an unconditioned stimulus (US) increases over a run of nonreinforced trials while the CR to the conditional stimulus (CS) declines, and the complementary pattern in which expectancy decreases over a run of reinforced trials while the CR to the CS grows in strength. In line with these patterns, the change in skin conductance response (our CR) as a function of US run length was found to follow a linear trend opposite to that of conscious expectancy of shock with respect to US run length. This dissociation supports a dual-processing system account of human Pavlovian conditioning, with conscious, controlled processes governing expectancy (and subject to the gambler's fallacy), whereas automatic, associative processes determine at least some of the strength of the CR to the CS.
Abstract.
Author URL.
McLaren IPL, Forrest CL, McLaren RP (2012). Elemental representation and configural mappings: combining elemental and configural theories of associative learning.
Learn Behav,
40(3), 320-333.
Abstract:
Elemental representation and configural mappings: combining elemental and configural theories of associative learning.
In this article, we present our first attempt at combining an elemental theory designed to model representation development in an associative system (based on McLaren, Kaye, & Mackintosh, 1989) with a configural theory that models associative learning and memory (McLaren, 1993). After considering the possible advantages of such a combination (and some possible pitfalls), we offer a hybrid model that allows both components to produce the phenomena that they are capable of without introducing unwanted interactions. We then successfully apply the model to a range of phenomena, including latent inhibition, perceptual learning, the Espinet effect, and first- and second-order retrospective revaluation. In some cases, we present new data for comparison with our model's predictions. In all cases, the model replicates the pattern observed in our experimental results. We conclude that this line of development is a promising one for arriving at general theories of associative learning and memory.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Civile C, Elchlepp H, McLaren RP, Lavric A, McLaren IPL (2012). Face recognition and brain potentials: Disruption of configural information reduces the face inversion effect. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Yeates F, Jones FW, Wills AJ, Aitken MRF, McLaren IPL (2012). Implicit Learning: a Demonstration and a Novel SRT Paradigm. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Yeates F, Wills AJ, Jones FW, McLaren IPL (2012). State-Trace Analysis of Sequence Learning by Simple Recurrent Networks. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Forrest CLD, Elchlepp, Monsell, McLaren IPL (2012). Task switching without knowledge of the tasks. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
Lea SEG, McLaren IPL, Dow SM, Graft DA (2012). The cognitive mechanisms of optimal sampling.
Behavioural Processes,
89, 77-85.
Abstract:
The cognitive mechanisms of optimal sampling
How can animals learn the prey densities that are available in an environment that changes
unpredictably from day to day, and how much effort should they devote to doing so, rather than
exploiting what they already know?. Using a two-armed bandit situation, we simulated several
processes that might explain the trade-off between exploring and exploiting. They included an
optimising model, dynamic backward sampling; a dynamic version of the matching law; the Rescorla-
Wagner theory; a neural network model; and an ε-greedy and a rule-of-thumb model, both derived
from the study of reinforcement learning in artificial intelligence. Under conditions like those used in
published studies of birds' performance under two-armed bandit conditions, all models usually
identified the more profitable source of reward, and did so more quickly when the differential of
reward probabilities was greater. Only the dynamic programming model switched from exploring to
exploiting more quickly when available time in the situation was less. If sessions of equal length were
presented in blocks, a session-length effect could be induced in some of the models by allowing
motivational, but not memory, carry-over from one session to the next. The neural network and rule of
thumb models were the most successful overall.
Abstract.
Civile C, Elchlepp, McLaren RP, Lavric, McLaren IPL (2012). The face inversion effect and evoked brain potentials: Complete loss of configural information affects the N170. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2012.
2011
McLaren IPL (2011). APECS:An Adaptively Parameterised Model of Associative Learning and Memory. In Alonso E, Mondragn E (Eds.)
Computational Neuroscience for Advancing Artificial Intelligence, Medical Information Science Reference.
Abstract:
APECS:An Adaptively Parameterised Model of Associative Learning and Memory
Abstract.
Livesey EJ, McLaren IPL (2011). An elemental model of associative learning and memory. In Pothos EM, Wills AJ (Eds.)
Formal Approaches in Categorization, Cambridge Univ Pr.
Abstract:
An elemental model of associative learning and memory
Abstract.
Civile C, McLaren RP, McLaren IPL (2011). Perceptual learning and face recognition: Disruption of second order relational information reduces the face inversion effect. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2011.
McLaren IPL, Civile C (2011). Perceptual learning for a familiar category under inversion: an analogue of face inversion?. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2011.
McLaren IP, Wills AJ, Graham S (2011). Representation development, perceptual learning, and concept formation.
Behav Brain Sci,
34(3), 141-142.
Abstract:
Representation development, perceptual learning, and concept formation.
We argue for an example of "core cognition" based on Diamond and Carey's (1986) work on expertise and recognition, which is not made use of in the Origin of Concepts. This mechanism for perceptual learning seems to have all the necessary characteristics in that it is innate, domain-specific (requires stimulus sets possessing a certain structure), and demonstrably affects categorisation in a way that strongly suggests it will influence concept formation as well.
Abstract.
Wills AJ, Barrasin TJ, McLaren IPL (2011). Working Memory Capacity and Generalization in Predictive Learning. Cognitive Science. 1st - 1st Jan 2011.
2010
McLaren IPL, Wills AJ, Graham S (2010). Attention and Perceptual Learning. In Mitchell CJ, Pelley MEL (Eds.) Attention and Learning.
2009
Mclaren IPL (2009). Both rules and associations are required to predict human behaviour.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences,
32(2), 216-217.
Abstract:
Both rules and associations are required to predict human behaviour
I argue that the dual-process account of human learning rejected by Mitchell et al. in the target article is informative and predictive with respect to human behaviour in a way that the authors' purely propositional account is not. Experiments that reveal different patterns of results under conditions that favour either associative or rule-based performance are the way forward. © 2009 Cambridge University Press.
Abstract.
Livesey EJ, McLaren IPL (2009). Discrimination and generalization along a simple dimension: Peak shift and rule-governed responding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 35
Jones FW, McLaren IPL (2009). Human sequence learning under incidental and intentional conditions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 35
2008
McLaren IPL (2008). The Flexibility Thesis: a Critique-Commentary on Melchers, Shanks and Lachnit. Behavioural Processes, 77(3), 440-442.
2007
(2007). Elemental associability changes in human discrimination learning.
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes,
33(2), 148-159.
Abstract:
Elemental associability changes in human discrimination learning.
Participants initially completed a discrimination task (D1) involving categorization of patterns with multiple common features, each feature being partly predictive of the correct response. In a subsequent target discrimination task (D2), these features were redistributed across new discriminative stimuli. The relative predictiveness of the features in D1 was either maintained in D2 (i.e. features were equally informative in D1 and D2) or switched (i.e. more informative features in D1 were made less informative in D2, and vice versa). Differential performance on D2 suggested that features most predictive of the correct D1 responses became more highly associable than features that were less predictive in D1. This finding suggests that the associability of individual stimulus elements changes as a consequence of their role in discrimination learning. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved
Abstract.
2006
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2006). A hybrid cognitive-associative model to simulate human learning in the serial reaction time paradigm.
Proceedings of AISB'06: Adaptation in Artificial and Biological Systems,
1, 74-90.
Abstract:
A hybrid cognitive-associative model to simulate human learning in the serial reaction time paradigm
We present a computational model to simulate the findings of a series of experiments using the Serial Reaction Time paradigm on the problem devised by Maskara and Noetzel (1993). In contrast to other hybrid architectures, the model presented here simulates the experimental findings rather closely, although the predictions made by the model are counter-intuitive with respect to variants of the problem. The general finding is less counter-intuitive and can be predicted by the model as well: shorter and less numerous sequences can be better represented cognitively, whilst associative learning drives performance on longer and more numerous sequences.
Abstract.
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2006). Associative sequence learning in humans.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-ANIMAL BEHAVIOR PROCESSES,
32(2), 156-163.
Author URL.
Livesey EJ, Mansi C, McLaren IPL (2006). Dual processes mediate discrimination and generalisation in humans. In Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Vancouver, Canada.
2005
Le Pelley ME, Oakeshott SM, McLaren IPL (2005). Blocking and unblocking in human causal learning.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-ANIMAL BEHAVIOR PROCESSES,
31(1), 56-70.
Author URL.
Livesey EJ, Broadhurst PJC, McLaren IPL (2005). Discrimination and generalization in pattern categorization: a case for elemental associative learning. Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Stresa, Italy.
Suret MB, McLaren IPL (2005). Elemental Representation and Associability: an integrated model. In Wills AJ (Ed) New Directions in Human Associative Learning.
Livesey EJ, Pearson L, McLaren IPL (2005). Spatial variability and peak shift: a challenge for elemental associative learning?. Proceedings of the Twenty-Seventh Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Stresa, Italy.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2005). The Role of Associative history in Human Causal Learning. In Wills AJ (Ed) New Directions in Human Associative Learning.
LePelley ME, Oakeshott SM, Wills AJ, IPLMcLaren (2005). The outcome specificity of learned predictiveness effects: Parallels between human causal learning and animal conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior Processes, 31(2), 226-236.
2004
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2004). Associative History Affects the Associative Change Undergone by Both Presented and Absent Cues in Human Causal Learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,
30(1), 67-73.
Abstract:
Associative History Affects the Associative Change Undergone by Both Presented and Absent Cues in Human Causal Learning
R. A. Rescorla (2000) noted that a number of influential theories of associative learning do not take the associative history of cues (i.e. the prior training that they have received) into account when calculating the associative change undergone by those cues. The authors tested this assumption in a human causal learning paradigm and found associative history to be an important determinant of the learning undergone by cues that are presented on a trial. Moreover, associative history was also found to influence the amount of retrospective revaluation undergone by absent cues. These findings conflict with models of causal learning in which the associative change undergone by an element of a cue compound is governed by a summed error term (e.g. R. A. Rescorla & A. R. Wagner, 1972).
Abstract.
Wills AJ, Suret MB, McLaren IPL (2004). The role of category structure in determining the effects of stimulus pre-exposure on categorization accuracy. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B, 57(1), 79-88.
2003
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2003). Abstract and associatively based representations in human sequence learning.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences,
358(1435), 1277-1283.
Abstract:
Abstract and associatively based representations in human sequence learning
We give an analysis of performance in an artificial neural network for which the claim had been made that it could learn abstract representations. Our argument is that this network is associative in nature, and cannot develop abstract representations. The network thus converges to a solution that is solely based on the statistical regularities of the training set. Inspired by human experiments that have shown that humans can engage in both associative (statistical) and abstract learning, we present a new, hybrid computational model that combines associative and more abstract, cognitive processes. To cross-validate the model we attempted to predict human behaviour in further experiments. One of these experiments reveals some evidence for the use of abstract representations, whereas the others provide evidence for associatively based performance. The predictions of the hybrid model stand in line with our empirical data.
Abstract.
Dickinson A, McLaren IPL (2003). Associative Learning and Representation., Psychology Press.
Dickinson A, McLaren IPL (2003). Associative learning and representation: Introduction.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY SECTION B-COMPARATIVE AND PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY,
56(1), 3-6.
Author URL.
Dickinson A, McLaren IPL (2003). Associative learning and representation: Introduction. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 56 B(1), 3-6.
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2003). Computational Modeling of Human Performance in a Sequence Learning Experiment.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 212-217.
Abstract:
Computational Modeling of Human Performance in a Sequence Learning Experiment
This paper follows on from earlier work that our colleagues and ourselves presented at IJCNN 2001, IJCNN 2002 and FUZZ-IEEE 2002. We referred to simulations of a recurrent network and of an adaptive system that was partly based on a recurrent network. Both models were successful in simulating human sequence learning in a reaction time paradigm that is widely used in cognitive science and experimental psychology. We argued that these models were not only successful in simulating human learning, but also in predicting successful generalization to novel sequences where humans show generalization, and a failure to generalize to novel sequences when humans fail. In this paper we present data from a novel experiment and novel simulations on a longer version of this serial reaction time task. Under these conditions the task appears to be more difficult to master for the human subjects and therefore more complex. Accordingly, humans were not able to learn the task at all. Their failure is predicted by both computational models. Combining these results with the earlier findings from the previous conferences suggests that both successful and unsuccessful human performance can be predicted by the computational models considered here.
Abstract.
Trobalon JB, Miguelez D, McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (2003). Intradimensional and Extradimensional Shifts in Spatial Learning.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,
29(2), 143-152.
Abstract:
Intradimensional and Extradimensional Shifts in Spatial Learning
Animals trained on 2 discriminations learn the 2nd rapidly if the relevant stimuli are from the same dimension as the 1st (an intradimensional or ID shift) but slowly if the relevant stimuli for the 2 problems are from different dimensions (an extradimensional or ED shift). Four experiments examined ID and ED shifts in spatial learning. Rats trained on 2 spatial problems learned the 2nd more rapidly than rats whose 1st problem had been nonspatial, But this difference between ID and ED shifts depended on the spatial relationship between rewarded (S+) and unrewarded (S-) alternatives in the 2 spatial problems. The results imply that rats trained on a spatial discrimination do not learn to attend to all spatial landmarks but only to those that serve to differentiate S+ and S-.
Abstract.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2003). Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
56 B(1), 68-79.
Abstract:
Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning
The Mackintosh (1975) model of associative learning specifies that processing of both the cues presented on a trial and the outcome of that trial will interact to determine the amount of associative change undergone by a given cue, Experiments looking at the distribution of associative change among the elements of a reinforced compound in animal conditioning studies indicate that processing of the outcome of a trial does indeed influence associative change. The work reported here investigates the distribution of associative change among the elements of a reinforced compound in a human causal judgement paradigm, and it indicates that processing of the cues presented on a trial also plays a role in determining associative change (in terms of changes in the associability of cues as a result of experience). Taken in combination, these results provide good support for Mackintosh (1975) and the characterizations of both cue and outcome processing that it offers.
Abstract.
Suret M, McLaren IPL (2003). Representation and discrimination on an artificial dimension.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
56 B(1), 30-42.
Abstract:
Representation and discrimination on an artificial dimension
How we represent stimuli that are drawn from either natural (e.g. hue) or artificial (e.g. morphed face) dimensions is an issue of great significance for human learning. In this paper we outline a model of human dimensional representation in conjunction with some supporting empirical evidence for transfer along a continuum in humans (following Lawrence, 1952) and the first recorded case of transfer after outcome reversal with human subjects (following Mackintosh & Little, 1970). Our results support an elemental representation for dimensional stimuli in conjunction with algorithms that modulate both the salience and the associability of those representations.
Abstract.
Locke JEM, Suret MB, McLaren IPL (2003). Transposition and generalization on an artificial dimension.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, PTS 1 AND 2, 728-733.
Author URL.
2002
Suret M, McLaren IPL (2002). An associative model of human learning on an artificial dimension.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 806-811.
Abstract:
An associative model of human learning on an artificial dimension
This paper details an associative model that is applied to human learning on an artificial dimension. A variety of phenomena, including peak-shift, transfer along a continuum and summation/generalization are considered and simulation results are presented that give close fit to empirical data.
Abstract.
Spiegel R, Suret M, Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2002). Analyzing state dynamics in a recurrent neural network.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 834-839.
Abstract:
Analyzing state dynamics in a recurrent neural network
An analysis of state in simple recurrent networks (SRNs [1]) will be presented when they are trained to predict the outputs in a finite state grammar, and when they are required to generalize to a similar grammar.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (2002). Associative learning and elemental representation: II. Generalization and discrimination.
ANIMAL LEARNING & BEHAVIOR,
30(3), 177-200.
Author URL.
Spiegel R, Le Pelley ME, Suret M, McLaren IPL (2002). Combining fuzzy rules and a neural network in an adaptive system.
IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science,
1, 340-345.
Abstract:
Combining fuzzy rules and a neural network in an adaptive system
It has been shown that humans can rely on both rules or associations to solve a problem. We present a model in which rules may be applied to a particular sequence learning task, but rather than the rules being applied in an all-or-none fashion, a continuum from fully representing to not representing a rule is required in order to model human task performance.
Abstract.
Jones FW, Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2002). The APECS-SRN: Towards a model of SRT sequence learning.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 692-696.
Abstract:
The APECS-SRN: Towards a model of SRT sequence learning
Current neural network models are unable to capture the detailed pattern of sub-sequence learning that people show on the serial reaction time (SRT) task. This paper presents a new model, the APECS-SRN, that is better able to capture this pattern. The model runs the APECS algorithm in an SRN-type architecture.
Abstract.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2002). The interaction of learning and memory in associative networks.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
3, 2899-2904.
Abstract:
The interaction of learning and memory in associative networks
We look at the account of cue competition and interference offered by learning-based models of conditioning, and show that this approach is flawed. A model integrating learning and memory is able to provide a better account of the empirical data by appealing to changes in the retrievability of previously-learnt input-output mappings.
Abstract.
2001
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2001). A hybrid model approach to generalization in sequence learning.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
4, 2393-2398.
Abstract:
A hybrid model approach to generalization in sequence learning
Both recurrent neural networks and humans are able to learn sequential information and generalize to sequences they have not experienced in training. However, they sometimes seem to differ in the way they perform generalization. A new hybrid model is introduced that relies on both a recurrent neural network and rules typically applied by human subjects.
Abstract.
Suret M, McLaren IPL (2001). An Analogue of the Phillips Effect.
Spiegel R, McLaren IPL (2001). Recurrent neural networks and symbol grounding.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 320-325.
Abstract:
Recurrent neural networks and symbol grounding
It will be demonstrated that a recurrent neural network relying on statistics alone is able to differentiate between the classical Aristotelian categories odd and even number. This finding overlaps with the associative part of the hybrid associative/cognitive learning system in humans who sometimes differentiate between both categories unknowingly, i.e. without explicit rules.
Abstract.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2001). Retrospective revaluation in humans: Learning or memory?.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
54(4), 311-352.
Abstract:
Retrospective revaluation in humans: Learning or memory?
The phenomenon of retrospective revaluation has posed considerable problems for many associative learning theories as it involves a change in the associative strength of a cue on trials on which that cue is absent. The present series of experiments pursues this idea of changes in associative strength between evoked representations of cues, in an effort to establish, de novo, an excitatory connection between two cues simultaneously activated in memory. Given the finding of Dwyer, Mackintosh, and Boakes (1998) that simultaneous activation of absent cues in the memory of rats resulted in learning comparable to that seen in retrospective revaluation, we expected that if retrospective revaluation was found in humans, then excitatory learning due to simultaneous activation would also be seen. This was not the case. The implications of our results are discussed in terms of Dickinson and Burke's (1996) modified SOP model and a version of McLaren's (1993) APECS network. We conclude that many of the effects attributed to learning in retrospective revaluation studies are better thought of as due to changes in the retrievability of items in memory.
Abstract.
Le Pelley ME, McLaren IPL (2001). The mechanics of associative change. Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
Spiegel R, Jones FW, McLaren IPL (2001). The prediction-irrelevance problem in grammar learning.
Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
1, 314-319.
Abstract:
The prediction-irrelevance problem in grammar learning
The Elman recurrent network (SRN) has been considered a good model of language acquisition including grammar learning. Until recently, however, it was reported that it cannot master the prediction-irrelevance criterion, which, if true, would clearly limit its success of being an adequate neural network in this context. This paper will show that the SRN can deal with prediction-irrelevant information.
Abstract.
2000
McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (2000). An elemental model of associative learning: I. Latent inhibition and perceptual learning.
Animal Learning and Behavior,
28(3), 211-246.
Abstract:
An elemental model of associative learning: I. Latent inhibition and perceptual learning
This paper presents a brief, informal outline followed by a formal statement of an elemental associative learning model first described by McLaren, Kaye, and Mackintosh (1989). The model assumes representation of stimuli by sets of elements (i.e. microfeatures) and a set of associative algorithms that incorporate the following: real-time simulation of learning; an error-correcting learning rule; weight decay that distinguishes between transient and permanent associations; and modulation of associative learning that gives high salience to and, hence, promotes rapid learning with novel unpredicted stimuli and reduces the salience for a stimulus as its error term declines. The model is applied in outline fashion to some of the basic phenomena of simple conditioning and, in greater detail, to the phenomena of latent inhibition and perceptual learning. A detailed account of generalization and discrimination will be provided in a later paper.
Abstract.
Wills AJ, Suret, M.B. McLaren, I.P.L. (2000). Categorization and the ratio rule.
Proceedings of the Twenty-second Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society Author URL.
Le Pelley ME, Cutler DL, McLaren IPL (2000). Retrospective effects in human causality judgment.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, 782-787.
Author URL.
Wills AJ, Reimers, S. Stewart, N. Suret, M. McLaren IPL (2000). Tests of the ratio rule in categorization.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
53A(4), 983-1011.
Author URL.
McLaren IPL, Suret M (2000). Transfer along a continuum: Differentiation or association?.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, 340-345.
Author URL.
1999
McLaren IPL (1999). Knowledge, concepts, and categories.
APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY,
13(2), 188-189.
Author URL.
Jones FW, McLaren IPL (1999). Rules and associations.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE TWENTY FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, 240-245.
Author URL.
1998
McLaren IPL (1998). Animal learning and cognition: a neural network approach.
TRENDS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES,
2(6), 236-236.
Author URL.
Jones FW, Wills, A.J. McLaren, I.P.L. (1998). Perceptual categorization: connectionist modelling and decision rules.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
51B(1), 33-58.
Author URL.
Wills AJ, McLaren, I.P.L. (1998). Perceptual learning and free classification.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
51B(3), 235-270.
Author URL.
Graham S, McLaren IPL (1998). Retardation in Human Discrimination Learning as a Consequence of Pre-exposure: Latent Inhibition or Negative Priming?.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology,
51(2), 155-172.
Abstract:
Retardation in Human Discrimination Learning as a Consequence of Pre-exposure: Latent Inhibition or Negative Priming?
A series of experiments with human subjects, using black-and-white chequerboard patterns, demonstrated that non-reinforced pre-exposure could impair performance in a subsequent learning task. Subjects were invited to take part in a scenario similar to that of a computer simulated card game. Their task was to turn over a series of cards by mouse-clicking on a pack of cards lying face-down, and then to classify these cards into one of two categories. In a subsequent task, subjects were asked to discriminate between pairs of chequerboards, some of which had previously appeared in the initial categorization phase: either directly ("fronts") or incidentally ("backs") involved in categorization. In Experiment 1, for those stimuli used as the backs of the cards (that is, those visible on top of the pack of cards), there was a significant impairment in performance relative to non-pre-exposed control stimuli. Although the impairment appeared to be specific to the stimuli pre-exposed, when the pre-exposed "backs" were minimally distorted in the discrimination task of Experiment 2, performance was still significantly impaired relative to non-pre-exposed control stimuli. The results of Experiment 2 do not support the interpretation that retardation in learning following masked pre-exposure in human experiments is comparable to latent inhibition following simple preexposure in other animals. Whilst the impairment in performance appears to be similar to that of latent inhibition, the results may, instead, be better understood in terms of the inhibitory processes involved in negative priming. If this is so, then serious doubt is cast on whether latent inhibition has ever been reliably demonstrated in adult humans.
Abstract.
1997
Rodrigo T, Chamizo VD, McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (1997). Blocking in the spatial domain.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,
23(1), 110-118.
Abstract:
Blocking in the spatial domain
An initial series of experiments with rats in a swimming pool established that they could find a hidden platform the location of which was defined in terms of 3 or 4 landmarks and that, when trained with all 4, any subset of 3 (or even, after a sufficient number of swimming trials, 2) landmarks was sufficient to produce accurate performance. When only one landmark was present during testing, however, performance fell to chance. Two additional experiments demonstrated a significant blocking effect: If rats were first trained to locate the platform with 3 landmarks, they did not learn to use a 4th landmark added to their initial set of 3.
Abstract.
McLaren IPL (1997). Categorization and perceptual learning: an analogue of the face inversion effect.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology,
50(2), 257-273.
Abstract:
Categorization and perceptual learning: an analogue of the face inversion effect
This paper reports two experiments that investigate the extent to which it is plausible to suppose that an associatively based mechanism for perceptual learning acts as the basis for the effects of inversion on identification, recognition, matching and discrimination of faces (and certain other stimuli rendered familiar by expertise, e.g. gundogs). In the first experiment, an inversion effect that is contingent both on familiarity with a category and on the category possessing prototypical structure is demonstrated using discrimination learning of chequerboard stimuli. The second experiment demonstrates that the inversion effect found in Experiment 1 can generalize to a recognition paradigm as well. These results are discussed within the framework provided by associative learning theory, and a parallel is drawn with models employing a norm-based coding in similarity space. The conclusion is that it would be remarkable if the inversion effects demonstrated with the abstract categories used in the experiments reported here were not implicated in the inversion effects found with other classes of stimuli, whilst conceding that the analogy is not complete, particularly in the case of faces. ©1997 the Experimental Psychology Society.
Abstract.
Wills AJ, McLaren, I.P.L. (1997). Generalization in category learning: one and two category problems.
Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society Author URL.
Wills AJ, McLaren, I.P.L. (1997). Generalization in human category learning: a connectionist explanation of differences in gradient after discriminative and non-discriminative training.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,
50A(3), 607-630.
Author URL.
Graham S, McLaren IPL (1997). Retardation in Human Discrimination Learning as a Consequence of Pre-exposure: Latent Inhibition or Negative Priming?. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 51(2b), 155-172.
1996
Rodrigo T, Chamizo VD, McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (1996). Blocking between spatial landmarks: a test of the learning processes underlying navigation tasks.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY,
31(3-4), 4502-4502.
Author URL.
Aitken MRF, Bennett CH, McLaren IPL, Mackintosh NJ (1996). Perceptual differentiation during categorization learning by pigeons.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,
22(1), 43-50.
Abstract:
Perceptual differentiation during categorization learning by pigeons
In Experiment 1, pigeons were trained to categorize two sets of variable stimuli (black and white checkerboard patterns), constructed by random distortions of two prototype patterns. They were subsequently trained on new discriminations, between two new exemplars of their positive category, two new exemplars of their negative category, or two control checkerboard patterns. The new exemplars of their familiar categories were easier to discriminate than the wholly novel stimuli, although this difference was significant only for exemplars of their previously negative category. In Experiment 2, pigeons were initially trained on a discrimination between two prototype checkerboards; they subsequently learned to discriminate between two distortions of their negative prototype more rapidly than between two control patterns. Copyright 1996 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.
Abstract.
1995
McLaren IPL (1995). A better beta model of navigation. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 48, 51-55.
McLaren IPL, Bennett CH, Guttman-Nahir T, Kim K, Mackintosh NJ (1995). Prototype Effects and Peak Shift in Categorization.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,
21(3), 662-673.
Abstract:
Prototype Effects and Peak Shift in Categorization
People asked to categorize exemplars of 2 categories often respond more accurately to the prototypes of those categories than to other exemplars. The authors suggest that this prototype effect may often have been confounded with a peak shift as is observed when pigeons are trained to discriminate between two wavelengths (S+ = 550 nm and S- = 560 nm), and the peak of their postdiscrimination gradient lies at 540 or 530 nm rather than at 550 nm. Three experiments established that a similar peak shift can occur when people are asked to categorize 2 sets of stimuli, but the authors also provide evidence of a true prototype effect uncontaminated by any peak shift. These results appear to pose considerable problems for exemplar-based theories of categorization. © 1995 American Psychological Association.
Abstract.
1994
McLaren IPL, Green REA, Mackintosh NJ (1994). Animal learning and the implicit/explicit distinction. In Ellis NC (Ed) Implicit and explicit learning of languages, Academic Press.
MCLAREN IPL (1994). ESTIMATING RECENCY AND FAMILIARITY USING TRACE STRENGTH.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF MATHEMATICAL & STATISTICAL PSYCHOLOGY,
47, 227-234.
Author URL.
Rodrigo T, Chamizo VD, McLaren IPL, MacKintosh NJ (1994). Effects of preexposure to the Same or Different Pattern of Extra-maze Cues on Subsequent Extra-maze Discrimination.
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B,
47(1), 15-26.
Abstract:
Effects of preexposure to the Same or Different Pattern of Extra-maze Cues on Subsequent Extra-maze Discrimination
In two experiments, rats learned a spatial discrimination between maze arms defined by their relationship to a variety of extra-maze cues. Prior exposure to the actual arms between which animals were required to discriminate tended to retard subsequent learning (by comparison with a control group either given no preexposure to the extra-maze cues or exposed only to arms pointing in the opposite direction), whereas prior exposure to arms intermediate between those used in discrimination training tended to facilitate subsequent learning. These results are consistent with the suggestion that preexposure will facilitate discrimination learning when it reduces the associability of features or elements common to the stimuli between which animals are required to discriminate, more than it reduces the associability of the features or elements unique to each. © 1994 the Experimental Psychology Society
Abstract.
McLaren IPL, Bennett C, Plaisted K, Aitken M, Mackintosh NJ (1994). Latent Inhibition, Context Specificity, and Context Familiarity.
The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B,
47(4), 387-400.
Abstract:
Latent Inhibition, Context Specificity, and Context Familiarity
In two appetitive licking experiments, thirsty rats were pre-exposed to two stimuli prior to conditioning sessions in which one or both of these stimuli were paired with water. Consistent with other results, latent inhibition was disrupted when conditioning took place in a context different from that in which stimulus pre-exposure had occurred. But in animals given prior exposure to the context of stimulus pre-exposure before the start of stimulus pre-exposure, substantial and equivalent latent inhibition was evident whether or not there was a change of context between stimulus pre-exposure and conditioning. These results are discussed in terms of current theories of latent inhibition. © 1994, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Abstract.
MCLAREN IPL, LEEVERS HJ, MACKINTOSH NJ (1994). RECOGNITION, CATEGORIZATION, AND PERCEPTUAL-LEARNING (OR, HOW LEARNING TO CLASSIFY THINGS TOGETHER HELPS ONE TO TELL THEM APART).
ATTENTION AND PERFORMANCE XV,
15, 889-909.
Author URL.
McLaren IPL (1994). Representation development in associative systems. In Hogan JA, Bolhuis JJ (Eds.) Causal mechanisms of behavioural development, Cambridge University Press.
1993
MCLAREN IPL (1993). APECS - a SOLUTION TO THE SEQUENTIAL LEARNING-PROBLEM.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY, 717-722.
Author URL.
MCLAREN IPL (1993). PERCEPTUAL AND ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING - HALL,G. Q J EXP PSYCHOL-B, 46(1), 97-99.
1990
McLaren IP, Dickinson A (1990). The conditioning connection.
Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences,
329(1253), 179-186.
Abstract:
The conditioning connection.
In 1948 Konorski argued that conditioning reflects the strengthening of a connection between elements representing the signal and the reinforcer, as a result of the coincidence of activity in the signal element with a rise in activity in the reinforcer element. This Konorskian process represents one way of implementing an error-correcting learning rule and thus, unlike a simple Hebbian process, anticipates selective conditioning, such as that observed in Kamin's blocking procedure. However, the Konorskian process, in common with other error-correcting learning rules, fails to explain why blocking is attenuated by 'surprising' changes in reinforcement conditions that should not augment activity in the reinforcer element. Rather, the reinforcer-specificity of such unblocking suggests the operation of an associability process by which stored information about the past predictive history of the signal is expressed at the connection between signal and reinforcer elements to modulate changes in the connection weight.
Abstract.
1989
McLaren IPL, Kaye H, Mackintosh NJ (1989). An associative theory of the representation of stimuli: applications to perceptual learning and latent inhibition. In Morris RGM (Ed) Parallel Distributed Processing - Implications for Psychology and Neurobiology, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McLaren IPL (1989). The computational unit as an assembly of neurones: an implementation of an error correcting learning algorithm. In Durbin R, Miall C, Mitchison G (Eds.) The Computing Neuron, Amsterdam: Addison-Wesley.
