Some published reports have emphasized the similarities between Internet and laboratory research on associative learning processes. However, few of them, if any, studied systematic divergences between both types of research methodologies. In the present experiment, we investigated these divergences using an experimental preparation for the study of associative learning. The results show that di...

Associative learning, including classical conditioning and operant conditioning, is regarded as the most fundamental type of learning for animals and human beings. Many models have been proposed surrounding classical conditioning or operant conditioning. However, a unified and integrated model to explain the two types of conditioning is much less studied. Here, a model based on neuromodulated s...

The formation of new associations between items is critical for establishing episodic memories. It has been suggested that the hippocampus is essential for creating such associations but is not involved, or is much less involved, in memory for single items. In Experiment 1, we tested controls and amnesic patients with bilateral lesions thought to be limited primarily to the hippocampal region i...

In three experiments, the effect of cuing, at the point of test, on memory for order and/or position was investigated. Experiment 1 used a partial reconstruction of order task to demonstrate a mnemonic benefit of part-set cuing at the time of test; this result is used to argue that people may commonly use interitem associative information, rather than just position information, to help them rem...

Learning about objects typically involves the association of multisensory attributes. Here, we present three experiments supporting the existence of a specialized form of associative learning that depends on ‘unitization’. When multisensory pairs (e.g. faces and voices) were likely to both belong to a single object, learning was superior than when the pairs were not likely to belong to the same...

Two experiments were performed to investigate retention of a discriminative response under conditions of appetitive motivation. In Experiment 1, four groups of rats received 20 training trials in a two-choice position discrimination procedure. Following training, the subjects received 16 test trials .05, I, or 24 h later on a reversal of the original discrimination problem. The results revealed...

Recent neuroimaging and neuropsychological findings indicate that the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) plays an important, albeit undefined, role in episodic memory. Here we ask whether this region is specifically involved in associative aspects of episodic memory. Experiment 1 tested whether PPC damage affects the ability to learn and retrieve novel word pair associations. Experiment 2 tested w...

The Rescorla-Wagner model’s asymptotic predictions are influenced by the initial associative strength under some conditions. This is the case for the experimental paradigm called relative validity. It is possible that stimuli used in the experiment have certain initial associative strength reflecting the subjects’ expectancies. Thus researchers must fully understand this influence. In this arti...

Learning ability and memory duration are two inseparable factors which can increase theefficiency of a living organism during its lifetime. Trichgramma brassice Bezdenko (Hym.:Trichogrammatidae) is a biological control agent widely used against different pest species.This research was conducted to study the olfactory associative learning ability and memoryduration of T. brassicae under laborato...