Abstract
A number of studies have shown that in category learning, providing feedback about errors allows faster learning than providing feedback about correct responses. However, these previous studies used explicit, rulebased tasks in which the category structures could be separated by a simple rule that was easily verbalized. Here, the results of the first experiment known to compare the efficacy of positive versus negative feedback during information-integration category learning are reported. Information-integration tasks require participants to integrate perceptual information from incommensurable dimensions, and evidence suggests that optimal responding recruits procedural learning. The results show that although nearly all of the full-feedback control participants demonstrated information-integration learning, participants receiving either positive-only or negative-only feedback generally used explicit, rule-based strategies. It thus appears that, unlike rule-based learning, consistent information-integration learning requires full feedback. The theoretical implications of these findings for current models of information-integration learning are discussed.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ashby, F. G. (1992). Multidimensional models of categorization. In F. G. Ashby (Ed.),Multidimensional models of perception and cognition (pp. 449–483). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Ashby, F. G., Alfonso-Reese, L. A., Turken, A. U., &Waldron, E. M. (1998). A neuropsychological theory of multiple systems in category learning.Psychological Review,105, 442–481.
Ashby, F. G., &Ell, S. W. (2001). The neurobiology of category learning.Trends in Cognitive Sciences,5, 204–210.
Ashby, F. G., Ell, S. W., &Waldron, E. M. (2003). Procedural learning in perceptual categorization. Memory & Cognition,31, 1114–1125.
Ashby, F. G., &Ennis, J. M. (2006). The role of the basal ganglia in category learning.The Psychology of Learning & Motivation,46, 1–36.
Ashby, F. G., &Gott, R. E. (1988). Decision rules in the perception and categorization of multidimensional stimuli.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,14, 33–53.
Ashby, F. G., &Maddox, W. T. (1990). Integrating information from separable psychological dimensions.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,16, 598–612.
Ashby, F. G., &Maddox, W. T. (1992). Complex decision rules in categorization: Contrasting novice and experienced performance.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,18, 50–71.
Ashby, F. G., &Maddox, W. T. (2005). Human category learning.Annual Review of Psychology,56, 149–178.
Ashby, F. G., Maddox, W. T., &Bohil, C. J. (2002). Observational versus feedback training in rule-based and information-integration category learning.Memory & Cognition,30, 666–677.
Ashby, F. G., Noble, S., Filoteo, J. V., Waldron, E. M., &Ell, S. W. (2003). Category learning deficits in Parkinson’s disease.Neuropsychology,17, 115–124.
Ashby, F. G., Queller, S., &Berretty, P. M. (1999). On the dominance of unidimensional rules in unsupervised categorization.Perception & Psychophysics,61, 1178–1199.
Ashby, F. G., &Waldron, E. M. (1999). On the nature of implicit categorization.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,6, 363–378.
Buchwald, A. M. (1962). Variations in the apparent effects of “right” and “wrong” on subsequent behavior.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,1, 71–78.
Buss, A. H., &Buss, E. H. (1956). The effect of verbal reinforcement combinations on conceptual learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology,52, 283–287.
Buss, A. H., Weiner, M., &Buss, E. H. (1954). Stimulus generalization as a function of verbal reinforcement combinations.Journal of Experimental Psychology.48, 433–436.
Calabresi, P., Pisani, A., Centonze, D., &Bernardi, G. (1996). Role of Ca2+ in striatal LTD and LTP.Seminars in the Neurosciences,8, 321–328.
Calabresi, P., Saiardi, A., Pisani, A., Baik, J., Centonze, D., Mercuri, N., et al. (1997). Abnormal synaptic plasticity in the striatum of mice lacking dopamine D2 receptors.Journal of Neuroscience,17, 4536–4544.
Centonze, D., Picconi, B., Gubellini, P., Bernardi, G., &Calabresi, P. (2001). Dopaminergic control of synaptic plasticity in the dorsal striatum.European Journal of Neuroscience,13, 1071–1077.
Ell, S. W., &Ashby, F. G. (2006). The effects of category overlap on information-integration and rule-based category learning.Perception & Psychophysics,68, 1013–1026.
Filoteo, J. V., Maddox, W. T., &Davis, J. D. (2001). A possible role of the striatum in linear and nonlinear category learning: Evidence from patients with Huntington’s disease.Behavioral Neuroscience,115, 786–798.
Filoteo, J. V., Maddox, W. T., Salmon, D. P., &Song, D. D. (2005). Information-integration category learning in patients with striatal dysfunction.Neuropsychology,19, 212–222.
Frank, M. J. (2005). Dynamic dopamine modulation in the basal ganglia: A neurocomputational account of cognitive deficits in medicated and nonmedicated Parkinsonism.Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience,17, 51–72.
Frank, M. J., Seeberger, L. C., &O’Reilly, R. C. (2004). By carrot or by stick: Cognitive reinforcement learning in Parkinsonism.Science,306, 1940–1943.
Heaton, R. K. (1981).A manual for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Hoge, M. A., &Stocking, R. (1912). A note on the relative value of punishment and reward as motives.Journal of Animal Behavior,2, 43–50.
Hollerman, J., &Schultz, W. (1998). Dopamine neurons report an error in the temporal prediction of reward during learning.Nature Neuroscience,1, 304–309.
Jones, A. (1961). The relative effectiveness of positive and negative verbal reinforcers.Journal of Experimental Psychology,62, 368–371.
Maddox, W. T., &Ashby, F. G. (1993). Comparing decision bound and exemplar models of categorization.Perception & Psychophysics,53, 49–70.
Maddox, W. T., &Ashby, F. G. (2004). Dissociating explicit and procedural-learning based systems of perceptual category learning.Behavioral Processes,66, 309–332.
Maddox, W. T., Ashby, F. G., &Bohil, C. J. (2003). Delayed feedback effects on rule-based and information-integration category learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,29, 650–662.
Maddox, W. T., Ashby, F. G., Ing, A. D., &Pickering, A. D. (2004). Disrupting feedback processing interferes with rule-based but not information-integration category learning.Memory & Cognition,32, 582–591.
Maddox, W. T., Bohil, C. J., &Ing, A. D. (2004). Evidence for a procedural-learning-based system in category learning.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,11, 945–952.
Maddox, W. T., Filoteo, J. V., Hejl, K. D., Ing, A. D. (2004). Category number impacts rule-based but not information-integration category learning: Further evidence for dissociable category learning systems.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,30, 227–235.
Maddox, W. T., &Ing, A. D. (2005). Delayed feedback disrupts the procedural-learning system but not the hypothesis-testing system in perceptual category learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,31, 100–107.
Meyer, W. J., &Offenbach, S. I. (1962). Effectiveness of reward and punishment as a function of task complexity.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,55, 532–534.
Nairn, A. C., Hemmings, H. C., Jr.,Walaas, S. I., &Greengard, P. (1988). DARPP-32 and phosphatase inhibitor-1, two structurally related inhibitors of protein phosphatase-1, are both present in striatonigral neurons.Journal of Neurochemistry,50, 257–262.
Nishi, A., Snyder, G., &Greengard, P. (1997). Bidirectional regulation of DARPP-32 phosphorylation by dopamine.Journal of Neuroscience,17, 8147–8155.
Nomura, E. M., Maddox, W. T., Filoteo, J. V., Ing, A. D., Gitelman, D. R., Parrish, T. B., et al. (2007). Neural correlates of rule-based and information-integration visual category learning.Cerebral Cortex,17, 37–43.
Schultz, W. (1998). Predictive reward signal of dopamine neurons.Journal of Neurophysiology,80, 1–27.
Schultz, W., Apicella, P., &Ljungberg, T. (1993). Responses of monkey dopamine neurons to reward and conditioned stimuli during successive steps of learning a delayed response task.Journal of Neuroscience,13, 900–913.
Schultz, W., Dayan, P., &Montague, P. R. (1997). A neural substrate of prediction and reward.Science,275, 1593.
Schwarz, G. (1978). Estimating the dimension of a model.Annals of Statistics,6, 461–464.
Seger, C. A., &Cincotta, C. M. (2002). Striatal activity in concept learning.Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience,2, 149–161.
Smith, E. E., Patalano, A. L., &Jonides, J. J. (1998). Alternative strategies of categorization.Cognition,65, 167–196.
Smith, J. D., Tracy, J. I., &Murray, M. J. (1993). Depression and category learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,122, 331–346.
Waldron, E. M. (2000).Feedback processing in category learning. Unpublished manuscript, University of California at Santa Barbara.
Waldron, E. M., &Ashby, F. G. (2001). The effects of concurrent task interference on category learning: Evidence for multiple category learning systems.Psychonomic Bulletin & Review,8, 168–176.
Warden, C. J., &Aylesworth, M. (1926). The relative value of reward and punishment in the formation of a visual discrimination habit in the white rat.Journal of Comparative Psychology,7, 117–127.
Wickens, J. (1993).A theory of the striatum. New York, Pergamon Press.
Zeithamova, D., &Maddox, W. T. (2006). Dual-task interference in perceptual category learning.Memory & Cognition,34, 387–398.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported in part by Public Health Service Grant MH3760-2. The authors are grateful to Amanda Price and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gregory Ashby, F., O’Brien, J.R.B. The effects of positive versus negative feedback on information-integration category learning. Perception & Psychophysics 69, 865–878 (2007). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193923
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193923