Of Rats and People: A Select Comparative Analysis of Cue Competition, the Contents of Learning, and Retrieval

Abstract Select literature regarding cue competition, the contents of learning, and retrieval processes is summarized to demonstrate parallels and differences between human and nonhuman associative learning. In general, strong parallels are found in the associative structures established during learning, as well as in the basic phenomena associated with information retrieval. Key words: associative learning, cue competition, contents of learning, retrieval processes, comparative psychology, humans, animals. The origins of experimental research in associative learning are linked to early studies with a variety of animal species such as dogs (e.g., Pavlov, 1927), cats (e.g., Thorndike, 1898), pigeons (e.g., Skinner, 1938) and rats (e.g., Tolman, 1948). Though comparative psychology is still alive today, its approach and methods towards understanding intellectual capability gave birth to the Behaviorist schools of thought and the field of Learning Theory. The goal of this review is to provide a brief overview of some of these more recent parallels, focusing on the cases of competition between stimuli, the contents of learning, and the conditions affecting memory retrieval. Competition between stimuli Blocking (e.g., Kamin, 1969), Overshadowing (e.g., Mackintosh, 1976), and Relative Validity (e.g., Wagner, Logan, Haberlandt, & Price, 1968) are three hallmark effects of associative learning. The blocking experiment, as reported by Kamin (1969), consisted of two critical groups of rats that received training in which different conditioned stimuli (CSs) were paired with a shock unconditioned stimulus (US) while barpressing for food. The result is that stimuli tend to show less conditioning when tested individually than if they had been...