A Developmental Study of Learning Within the First Three Years of Life: Response Decrement to a Redundant Signal
Year: 1968
Type: article
Abstract: The present studies wer e concerned with attentional responses showing decrease in strength over repeated trials.More specifically, this paper will consider the developmental course of habituation to visual inputs in the opening years of life.Habituation has been defined as response decrement to repeated stimulation (Harris, 1943; Thompson & Spencer, 1966).In many instances, the terms "habituation, adaptation, accommodation, inhibition, extinction, etc." are used by different investigators to account for the same general phenomenon of response decrement.The particular concept used may simply reflect the theoretical biases of the researchers.In the following discussion, the term "response decrement" will be used to refer to the behavior phenomenon, rather than its explanation.However, the explanation of response decrement is particularly germane to the question of whether or not the phenomenon under study is indeed a learning process.In many cases, response decrement can be attributed to receptor, effector, or general organism fatigue.F'requently the term adaptation is used to describe such cases.In these situations response decrement occurs because there is progressive physiological loss of the ability to respond.Clearly, these phenomena are unrelated to what is comnlonly considered learning.In order to demonstrate that response decrement is a learning phenomenon, it must be shown to be independent of any fatigue effects (see Engen & Lipsitt, 1965).It would also be relevant to show that response decrement is related to other cognitive processes and variables usually associated with learning capacity.The present series of studies had a number of specific purposes.The first was to find out whether, in a situation requiring visual attention, 23338504,
Source: ETS Research Bulletin Series
Authors: Michael Lewis, Susan Goldberg, Helen Campbell
Institutions: Educational Testing Service, University of Zambia
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2073691124