Psychology 2210A/B : Ch 12 - Serial Pattern Learning.docx

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2210A/B
• Professor: Riley Hinson

Document Summary

Animals must often respond in an ordered fashion in order to receive reinforcement. One example of an ordered arrangement of responses is a chain of behaviour. However research has shown that animals are capable of learning serial order if required. The most commonly used technique to investigate serial order/pattern learning in animals involves requiring the animal to respond to a set of stimuli in a particular order. Initial training for such a task involves first teaching the animal to respond to blue, wherever it is presented. Then the green stimulus is introduced, and the animal must respond blue then green. Then orange is introduced, followed by red, and finally yellow. Animals are able to learn this task, but we cannot yet conclude that they know the overall serial order. It is possible that the animal has simply learned a series of paired associates.