RUI: Activation-Evocability Theory of Noncontingent Learning

RUI：非偶然学习的激活-唤起理论

• 批准号: 9200994
• 负责人: Jesse Whitlow
• 金额: $ 2.73万
• 依托单位: Rutgers University New Brunswick
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1992
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1992-08-01 至 1995-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9200994&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Activation; Evocability; Theory; Noncontingent

This research uses a new approach, termed "activation-elicitation theory," to study how the information present in an event is combined with the emotional processes it evokes to shape the organism's response. The research focuses on two simple learning paradigms, classical conditioning and habituation, that are common to many species and situations. An essential idea of the analysis is that we can make significant progress toward understanding the nature of human reactions to complex situations by elucidating how prior learning and current emotional state influence behavior in simplified paradigms like these. The immediate goal of the research is to measure the relative contributions of prior learning and emotional responsiveness to performance, using one of the "model systems" of modern psychobiology, the eyeblink reflex system of rabbits. Activation-elicitation theory prescribes methods for making such measurements, which should lead to revised estimates of emotive processes in these examples of simple learning. For example, certain procedures thought to promote new learning may actually be effective because they produce emotional changes as well. Clarifying this issue has both theoretical and practical significance. Researchers often use classical conditioning to study the formation of simple associations, assuming that higher levels of conditioned responding corresponds to stronger associations or more information. A practical example of such reasoning is to consider a drug or surgical treatment that increases conditioned responding to be a potential aid to learning and memory. The present approach sharply questions the validity of such an interpretation; increased responding may only indicate an effect of the treatment on emotional responsiveness. The long-range goal of this research is to improve our knowledge of simple adaptive processes. Such knowledge is essential for progress in understanding the biological basis of learning and memory.

这项研究使用了一种被称为“激活-启发理论”的新方法，来研究事件中出现的信息如何与它所唤起的情感过程相结合，从而形成生物体的反应。本研究主要关注两种简单的学习范式：经典条件反射和习惯化，这两种范式在许多物种和情况下都很常见。分析的一个基本思想是，我们可以通过阐明先前的学习和当前的情绪状态如何影响像这样的简化范例中的行为，在理解人类对复杂情况的反应本质方面取得重大进展。这项研究的直接目标是利用现代心理生物学的“模型系统”之一——兔子的眨眼反射系统，衡量先前学习和情绪反应对表现的相对贡献。激活-启发理论规定了进行此类测量的方法，这将导致对这些简单学习示例中的情绪过程的修订估计。例如，某些被认为促进新学习的程序实际上可能是有效的，因为它们也会产生情绪变化。厘清这一问题具有理论意义和现实意义。研究人员经常使用经典条件反射来研究简单联想的形成，假设更高水平的条件反射对应于更强的联想或更多的信息。这种推理的一个实际例子是，考虑一种药物或手术治疗，可以增加条件反射，作为学习和记忆的潜在援助。目前的方法尖锐地质疑这种解释的有效性；增加的反应可能只是表明治疗对情绪反应的影响。这项研究的长期目标是提高我们对简单适应过程的认识。这些知识对于理解学习和记忆的生物学基础是必不可少的。