CODING AND ATTENTION IN CONDITIONAL DISCRIMINATIONS

这一建议解决了编码或标签如何 依附于环境中的某些事件会影响对那些 事件 在这里提出的研究中所研究的“代码”是显性形式 工具性行为的不同 密码 该研究的重点是在何种条件下注意到 这些编码反应与对外部事件的注意力竞争， 让他们成长起来。 更具体地说，这些研究解决了以下问题： 关于选择性注意如何编码反应线索的变化， 它是如何明显的功能（其相对显着性），它是如何好， 预测环境中的生物学重要事件（其相对 有效性）及其与外部线索的时间关系 为了达到这个目的，鸽子将接受二选一的训练， 条件辨别任务中，不同的视觉刺激（ 外部事件）和不同的响应模式（编码 反应）为正确的选择提供冗余的线索。 关注每一 在任务获得之后，通过呈现线索来评估线索 分开 遮蔽和遮挡程序将用于 操纵受试者注意每个线索的程度， 训练 这些研究的结果将具有重要的意义 注意力机制包括反应产生的线索，期望， 未来的奖励事件，以及冗余刺激，其存在取决于 其他环境刺激的发生。 他们也将承担 是否有相似的联想过程 工具和经典条件反射 该项目具有潜力 心理和心身功能障碍的临床相关性， 哪种成功的治疗干预取决于患者的 有选择地注意不适当的行为反应的能力。

This proposal addresses the general question of how codes or labels attached to certain events in the environment influence attention to those events. The "codes" studied in the research proposed here are overt forms of instrumental behavior which are differential with respect to the events coded. The research focuses on the conditions under which attention to these coding responses compete with attention to the external events which give rise to them. More specifically, the studies address questions regarding how selective attention to a coding-response cue changes as a function of how noticeable it is (its relative salience), how well it predicts biologically important events in the environment (its relative validity), and its temporal relationship with respect to the external cue which supports it. Towards this end, pigeons will be trained on two-choice conditional discrimination tasks in which different visual stimuli (the external events) and different patterns of responding (the coding responses) provide redundant cues for correct choices. Attention to each cue is then assessed following task acquisition by presenting it separately. Overshadowing and blocking procedures will be used to manipulate the degree to which subjects attend to each cue during training. The results from these studies will have important implications for attentional mechanisms involving response-produced cues, expectancies of future reward events, and redundant stimuli whose presence depends upon the occurrence of other environmental stimuli. They will also bear upon the general issue of whether or not similar associative processes underlie instrumental and classical conditioning. The project has potential clinical relevance for psychological and psychosomatic dysfunctions for which successful therapeutic intervention depends upon the patient's ability to selectively attend to inappropriate behavioral responses.