EFFECTS OF TRAINING PROCEDURES ON TRANSFER OF OBSERVING AND INSTRUMENTAL RESPONSES IN DISCRIMINATIVE REVERSALS

Studied the performances of 44 institutionalized retardates in a series of reversals as a function of the presence of overtraining and the use of a correction or a noncorrection procedure. Overtrained Ss showed positive transfer to the 1st reversal and quickly learned to reverse in a single trial; nonovertrained Ss showed negative transfer to the 1st reversal and gradual improvement thereafter. Ss who were allowed to correct made fewer perseverative responses than Ss who were not, but overtraining had no effect on perseveration. The reversal midplateau, observed only in nonovertrained Ss, decreased in length across reversals. Results were interpreted in terms of attention models of discriminative learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.