scholarly journals Changes in Cue Configuration Reduce the Impact of Interfering Information in a Predictive Learning Task

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmelo P. Cubillas ◽  
Miguel A. Vadillo ◽  
Helena Matute
Keyword(s):  
Learning Task ◽  
Predictive Learning ◽  
The Impact

The Reinstatement Effect in Human Predictive Learning: Contextual Modulation and the Impact of Extinction Reminders

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Matías Gámez ◽  
Rodolfo Bernal-Gamboa
Keyword(s):  
Learning Task ◽  
Laboratory Model ◽  
Clinical Perspective ◽  
Contextual Modulation ◽  
Specific Relationship ◽  
Predictive Learning ◽  
Response Recovery ◽  
The Impact

AbstractOne of the most relevant phenomena both from a theoretical and clinical perspective is extinction. In particular, several researchers are interested in the response recovery effects from extinction. Reinstatement is an effect that has been proposed as a laboratory model to study relapse from extinction-based therapeutic treatments. We designed two experiments with humans to evaluate the reinstatement effect in a predictive learning task. In both experiments, participants learned a specific relationship between two cues (X and Y) and two outcomes (O1 and O2) during the first phase. Throughout extinction, both cues were presented without outcomes. After an exposure to the original outcomes, reinstatement of the first-learned information was observed during testing in both experiments. However, we found that the reinstatement effect was contextual modulated (Experiment 1; ηp2 = .78, 90% CI [.48, .86], p < .0001). Furthermore, in Experiment 2 we showed a reduction of reinstatement when an extinction reminder was used ηp2 = .45, 90% CI [.07, .65], p = .012. Theoretical implications are discussed, and some potential uses are mentioned.

Experimentally Induced Single and Repeated Personal Name Confusions: The Impact of Phonological and Semantic Similarity

2019 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 781-805
Author(s):  
Manuel Dupont
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Phonological Similarity ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Semantic Code ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
First Results ◽  
Phonological Similarities ◽  
The Impact

Three experiments investigated a common but intriguing phenomenon, that is, repeated personal name confusion, a phenomenon at the border between language and memory. The purpose of those experiments was to evaluate the impact of the semantic and phonological similarities on name confusion and to compare repeated naming confusions (i.e., repeatedly confounding two names) with single confusions (i.e., confounding two names only once) in a same experimental paradigm. In all experiments, participants (64 middle-aged participants for each experiment) were asked to memorize the association between 16 names and 16 faces (face-name learning task). In Experiments 1 and 2, the two studied variables were the phonological similarity between the confused names and the semantic similarity between the two bearers of the confused names (using a visually derived semantic code in Experiment 1 and an identity-specific semantic code in Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, the impact of those two semantic similarities between the bearers of the confused names was taken into account, whereas the phonological similarity was not taken into account. First, results showed a main effect of the phonological and semantic similarity on name confusion (more confusions when the names were phonologically related or when the bearers of the names were semantically related). Second, we found that (1) the combination of the phonological and the semantic similarity and (2) the combination of the two semantic similarities led to an increase of name confusions. Third, in the three experiments, we found that the semantic and phonological similarities had a similar impact on repeated and single confusions. Finally, results showed that participants always made more single than repeated confusions, except in the case when the bearers of the confused names shared two semantic features.

scholarly journals Frontal Theta Oscillatory Activity Is a Common Mechanism for the Computation of Unexpected Outcomes and Learning Rate

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Mas-Herrero ◽  
Josep Marco-Pallarés
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Error ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Learning Rate ◽  
Oscillatory Activity ◽  
Common Mechanism ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Reward Prediction Error ◽  
Reward Prediction ◽  
Medial Pfc ◽  
The Impact

In decision-making processes, the relevance of the information yielded by outcomes varies across time and situations. It increases when previous predictions are not accurate and in contexts with high environmental uncertainty. Previous fMRI studies have shown an important role of medial pFC in coding both reward prediction errors and the impact of this information to guide future decisions. However, it is unclear whether these two processes are dissociated in time or occur simultaneously, suggesting that a common mechanism is engaged. In the present work, we studied the modulation of two electrophysiological responses associated to outcome processing—the feedback-related negativity ERP and frontocentral theta oscillatory activity—with the reward prediction error and the learning rate. Twenty-six participants performed two learning tasks differing in the degree of predictability of the outcomes: a reversal learning task and a probabilistic learning task with multiple blocks of novel cue–outcome associations. We implemented a reinforcement learning model to obtain the single-trial reward prediction error and the learning rate for each participant and task. Our results indicated that midfrontal theta activity and feedback-related negativity increased linearly with the unsigned prediction error. In addition, variations of frontal theta oscillatory activity predicted the learning rate across tasks and participants. These results support the existence of a common brain mechanism for the computation of unsigned prediction error and learning rate.

scholarly journals The Impact of Feedback Frequency on Performance in a Novel Speech Motor Learning Task

2017 ◽  
Vol 60 (6S) ◽  
pp. 1712-1725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara Steinberg Lowe ◽  
Adam Buchwald
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Term Retention ◽  
Long Term Retention ◽  
Speech Motor Learning ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Speech Motor

Purpose This study investigated whether whole nonword accuracy, phoneme accuracy, and acoustic duration measures were influenced by the amount of feedback speakers without impairment received during a novel speech motor learning task. Method Thirty-two native English speakers completed a nonword production task across 3 time points: practice, short-term retention, and long-term retention. During practice, participants received knowledge of results feedback according to a randomly assigned schedule (100%, 50%, 20%, or 0%). Changes in nonword accuracy, phoneme accuracy, nonword duration, and initial-cluster duration were compared among feedback groups, sessions, and stimulus properties. Results All participants improved phoneme and whole nonword accuracy at short-term and long-term retention time points. Participants also refined productions of nonwords, as indicated by a decrease in nonword duration across sessions. The 50% group exhibited the largest reduction in duration between practice and long-term retention for nonwords with native and nonnative clusters. Conclusions All speakers, regardless of feedback schedule, learned new speech motor behaviors quickly with a high degree of accuracy and refined their speech motor skills for perceptually accurate productions. Acoustic measurements may capture more subtle, subperceptual changes that may occur during speech motor learning. Supplemental Materials https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5116324

scholarly journals Intolerance of uncertainty and novelty facilitated extinction: The impact of reinforcement schedule

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Jade Wake ◽  
Helen Dodd ◽  
Jayne Morriss
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Reinforcement Schedule ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Stress Disorders ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Extinction Learning ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Novel Associations

Individuals who score high in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) display reduced threat extinction learning and retention. Recently, it was shown that replacing threat associations with novel associations (i.e. presenting a novel non-aversive tone 100% of the time vs. presenting nothing) can promote threat extinction retention in individuals with high IU. This effect could be driven by the tone’s novelty or reliability. Here we seek to address this question by adjusting the reliability via the reinforcement schedule of the novel tone. We propose to measure skin conductance response during an associative learning task in which participants (n = 90) will be assigned to one of three conditions; standard extinction, 100% reinforcement NFE or 50% reinforcement NFE. This work will further our understanding of the role novelty, reliability and IU in threat extinction. Ultimately, this research will inform future models of IU and clinical treatments of anxiety and stress disorders.

Stress Modulates the Balance between Hippocampal and Motor Networks during Motor Memory Processing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
N Dolfen ◽  
B R King ◽  
L Schwabe ◽  
M A Gann ◽  
M P Veldman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Motor Learning ◽  
Sequence Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Motor Memory ◽  
Motor Sequence Learning ◽  
Motor Sequence ◽  
Memory Processing ◽  
Sleep Episode ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The functional interaction between hippocampo- and striato-cortical regions during motor sequence learning is essential to trigger optimal memory consolidation. Based on previous evidence from other memory domains that stress alters the balance between these systems, we investigated whether exposure to stress prior to motor learning modulates motor memory processes. Seventy-two healthy young individuals were exposed to a stressful or nonstressful control intervention prior to training on a motor sequence learning task in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Consolidation was assessed with an MRI retest after a sleep episode. Behavioral results indicate that stress prior to learning did not influence motor performance. At the neural level, stress induced both a larger recruitment of sensorimotor regions and a greater disengagement of hippocampo-cortical networks during training. Brain-behavior regression analyses showed that while this stress-induced shift from (hippocampo-)fronto-parietal to motor networks was beneficial for initial performance, it was detrimental for consolidation. Our results provide the first experimental evidence that stress modulates the neural networks recruited during motor memory processing and therefore effectively unify concepts and mechanisms from diverse memory fields. Critically, our findings suggest that intersubject variability in brain responses to stress determines the impact of stress on motor learning and subsequent consolidation.

Does Evaluative Learning Rely on the Perception of Contingency?

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 391-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Kattner ◽  
Wolfgang Ellermeier
Keyword(s):  
Learning Task ◽  
Evaluative Conditioning ◽  
Propositional Knowledge ◽  
Contingency Learning ◽  
Subjective Contingency ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Objective Contingency ◽  
Contingency Judgments

An experiment is reported studying the impact of objective contingency and contingency judgments on cross-modal evaluative conditioning (EC). Both contingency judgments and evaluative responses were measured after a contingency learning task in which previously neutral sounds served as either weak or strong predictors of affective pictures. Experimental manipulations of contingency and US density were shown to affect contingency judgments. Stronger contingencies were perceived with high contingency and with low US density. The contingency learning task also produced a reliable EC effect. The magnitude of this effect was influenced by an interaction of statistical contingency and US density. Furthermore, the magnitude of EC was correlated with the subjective contingency judgments. Taken together, the results imply that propositional knowledge about the CS-US relationship, as reflected in contingency judgments, moderates evaluative learning. The data are discussed with respect to different accounts of EC.

scholarly journals The impact of traumatic stress on Pavlovian biases

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. T. Ousdal ◽  
Q. J. Huys ◽  
A. M. Milde ◽  
A. R. Craven ◽  
L. Ersland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Instrumental Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Single Episode ◽  
Reinforcement Learning Models ◽  
Stress Influences ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundDisturbances in Pavlovian valuation systems are reported to follow traumatic stress exposure. However, motivated decisions are also guided by instrumental mechanisms, but to date the effect of traumatic stress on these instrumental systems remain poorly investigated. Here, we examine whether a single episode of severe traumatic stress influences flexible instrumental decisions through an impact on a Pavlovian system.MethodsTwenty-six survivors of the 2011 Norwegian terror attack and 30 matched control subjects performed an instrumental learning task in which Pavlovian and instrumental associations promoted congruent or conflicting responses. We used reinforcement learning models to infer how traumatic stress affected learning and decision-making. Based on the importance of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) for cognitive control, we also investigated if individual concentrations of Glx (=glutamate + glutamine) in dACC predicted the Pavlovian bias of choice.ResultsSurvivors of traumatic stress expressed a greater Pavlovian interference with instrumental action selection and had significantly lower levels of Glx in the dACC. Across subjects, the degree of Pavlovian interference was negatively associated with dACC Glx concentrations.ConclusionsExperiencing traumatic stress appears to render instrumental decisions less flexible by increasing the susceptibility to Pavlovian influences. An observed association between prefrontal glutamatergic levels and this Pavlovian bias provides novel insight into the neurochemical basis of decision-making, and suggests a mechanism by which traumatic stress can impair flexible instrumental behaviours.

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