A Configural-Cur Network Model of Animal and Human Associative Learning

test a configural-cue network model of human classification and recognition learning based on Rescorla & Wagner's (1972) model of classical conditioning. The model extends the stimulus representation assumptions from our earlier one-layer network model (Gluck & Bower, 1988b) to include pair-wise conjunctions of features as unique cues. Like the exemplar context model of Medin & Schaffer(1978), the representational assumptions of the configural-cue network model embody an implicit exponential decay relationship between stimulus similarity and and psychological (Hamming) distance, a relationship which has received substantial independent empirical and theoretical support (Shepard, 1957,1987). In addition to results from animal learning, the model accounts for several aspects of complex human category learning, including the relationship between category similarity and linear separability in determining classification difficulty (Medin &Schwanenflugel, 1981), the relationship between classification and recognition memory for instances (Hayes-Roth & Hayes-Roth, 1977), and the impact of correlated attributes on classification (Medin, Altom, Edelson, & Freko, 1982)

Storage and later recognition of exemplars of concepts

This paper concerns the problem of abstraction: whether when we encounter several exemplars of a concept, we retain only the abstracted concept, only the exemplars, or both. Although many studies concur that both are stored, a recent article argued strongly that only the abstracted concept is stored. The present study, aimed at replication of this recent finding, follows the earlier procedural details but adds appropriate controls and uses simpler material. A set of 24 exemplars of four concepts, in the form of four-tuples of letters and numbers, was presented to Ss who, after presentation, rated a larger set of exemplars for recognition. One group of Ss experienced the conceptual exemplars; control group Ss experienced items that were similar in composition but not exemplars of a concept. Two major results appeared: Unlike the study on which this was based, all Ss were able to distinguish those items that were originally experienced from those that were not. And, the more completely an exemplar fit the concept (the longer the item), the more confident the S was that it had been presented. In contrast, in the control condition, the longer the item, the more confident the S was that it had not been presented earlier. Two models are described to account for these results. One is based on the S's initial storage of the exemplars in a concept-plus-correction format; the other is based on a procedure whereby the S can make recognition judgments without having previously abstracted and retained the concepts.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33928/1/0000195.pd

Mnemonic elaboration in multilist learning

This study inquires whether retroactive interference (RI) from learning multiple word lists can be altered through mnemonic strategies. The Ss learned five successive lists of 20 words each by associating the words with 20 conceptual pegs via visual imagery. Some Ss were instructed to visualize the words from the successive lists in entirely new associative scenes; other Ss were to incorporate the current list's words into the appropriate scenes from the earlier lists. Although equivalent in immediate recall, the Separate Images (SI) group recalled less than the Progressive Elaboration (PE) group at the end of the session, and showed a strict RI curve across lists where the PE group did not. Recall at a one-week test, however, favored earlier lists for the PE group only, explicable in terms of cumulative rehearsal of earlier items with the PE method.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34062/1/0000340.pd

Self-efficacy and academic achievement in Australian high school students: The mediating effects of academic aspirations and delinquency

Studies have shown that self-efficacy, aspirational, and other psychosocial influences account for considerable variance in academic achievement through a range of mediational pathways, although no research to date has tested the mediational relationships identified. The present research investigated the structural relations among self-efficacy, academic aspirations, and delinquency, on the academic achievement of 935 students aged 11-18 years from ten schools in two Australian cities. The Children's Self-Efficacy, Scale, Adapted Self-Report. Delinquency Scale (Revised), and Children's Academic Aspirations Scale were administered to participants prior to academic achievement being assessed using mid-year school grades. Structural equation modeling was employed to test three alternative models for the relationships from academic, social, and self-regulatory efficacy on academic achievement. A partial mediation model showed the best overall fit to the data. Academic and self-regulatory efficacy had an indirect negative effect through delinquency and a direct positive effect on academic achievement. Academic and social self-efficacy had positive and negative relationships, respectively, with academic aspiration and academic achievement; however, the relationship between academic aspiration and academic achievement was not significant in the final model. (C) 2008 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Praise or blame? Affective influences on attributions for achievement

Three experiments showed that mood influences achievement attributions and that cognitive processes underlie these effects. In Experiment 1, happy Ss made more internal and stable attributions for success than failure in typical 'life dilemmas'. In Experiment 2, attributions for real-life exam performance were more internal and stable in a happy than in a sad mood. Dysphoric moods resulted in self-critical rather than self-enhancing attributions, contrary to motivational theories, but consistent with cognitive models and the clinical literature on depression. In Experiment 3 this pattern was repeated with direct self vs. other comparisons, and for self-efficacy judgments. The results are interpreted as supporting cognitive rather than motivational theories of attribution biases. The implications of the results for clinical research, and contemporary affect-cognition theories are considered

On the Importance of Context in Sequential Search

We experimentally investigate whether framing an individual-choice decision in a market setting results in a different outcome than when the decision is described in a context-free frame. We further explore whether the context effect is triggered solely by the frame or whether a richer descriptive content is required to establish familiarity with the decision-making environment. Understanding what constitutes context is central to formulating practical recommendations aiming to improve the quality of individual decisions. Our results show that framing a sequential search problem as selling houses leads to better decisions than a context-free frame. Manipulating whether or not the framed decision-making scenario includes a description of the house, which would be naturally available in a real estate market, does not impact the length of search or the value of accepted offers