Competition and facilitation during learning: Searching for domain general principles.

学习过程中的竞争和促进：寻找领域一般原则。

• 批准号: ES/R011494/1
• 负责人: Gonzalo Urcelay
• 金额: $ 48.69万
• 依托单位: University of Leicester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FR011494%2F1
• 关键词: Competition; facilitation; during; learning; Searching

In any domain of daily life and cognition, humans solve tasks and make decisions by using information that comes from multiple, different sources. It is quite obvious that we learn from previous experiences. We then use multiple sources of information to guide our behaviour in environments, make decisions about what is beneficial for us, and act in social situations (attributions, imitation). Most times however, not all information in the environment is useful. For example, if we eat fish and chips and later become ill, it is difficult to know which of the two made us ill, and people tend to select one or the other based on quantity. In fact, humans are particularly adept at selecting and learning from those sources which provide information about relevant outcomes. Hence, the idea of competition between different sources of information has been prominent in theories of learning. A wealth of data in the social sciences and psychology supports this assertion. Yet, the finding that multiple sources of information compete during learning is not ubiquitous. In some fields (i.e., spatial learning, category learning) and in experiments using animals, researchers have found facilitation (the opposite of competition) between multiple sources of information, and this has led to the development of specific theories that explain those findings, by assuming they are "exceptions". Thus, there are theories aimed at explaining competition, and theories aimed at explaining facilitation, but no consensus regarding the circumstances that lead to either of these opposite outcomes. Based predominantly on experiments conducted in nonhuman animals, Urcelay has recently hypothesized that competition and facilitation are two extremes of a continuum which is determined by multiple variables. The objective of this proposal is to test whether contiguity (that is, the temporal and spatial separation of events) is a critical determinant of these opposite findings. We predict that competition and facilitation are phenomena that can be observed across different tasks and domains of cognition. Therefore, we will test this general prediction across different learning preparations with increasing complexity. First, we wish to determine whether competition and facilitation are observed as a function of temporal separation between hypothetical food consumption and sickness in a predictive scenario such as the food-disease example mentioned above. The second objective is to extend these findings to an action-outcome task. Action-outcome learning underlies the sense of agency, free will and responsibility. We will investigate whether competition or facilitation are observed in a task in which participants' actions (i.e., press a button) and other environmental events (a signal) are presented simultaneously during learning. We will do this whilst manipulating the time between action and the outcome. We predict that when outcomes are presented soon after the action, stimuli will compete with action-outcome learning, but that the opposite will occur when outcomes are delayed. This is relevant to human behaviour because most of our actions are followed by delayed outcomes (e.g., saving for retirement; preparing for a child's birth). The final objective of this proposal is to investigate this prediction in spatial learning, which integrates the above mentioned objectives in a more complex and ecologically valid setting, whilst extending the prediction to spatial separation. Notably, in spatial learning both competition and facilitation have been observed, but the exact reasons for these discrepant findings have not been elucidated. In all three objectives, we will further investigate the psychological mechanisms (whether participants process different bits of information as separate elements, or as a whole) underlying competition and facilitation in these three scenarios. These findings have important implications for theories of learning, and for education.

在日常生活和认知的任何领域中，人类通过使用来自多个不同来源的信息来解决任务并做出决定。很明显，我们从以前的经验中学到。然后，我们使用多种信息来源来指导我们在环境中的行为，对我们有益的东西做出决定，并在社交情况下采取行动（归因，模仿）。但是，大多数情况下，环境中并非所有信息都是有用的。例如，如果我们吃鱼和薯条并后来生病，那么很难知道两者中的哪一个使我们生病，人们倾向于根据数量选择一个或另一个。实际上，人类特别擅长从那些提供有关相关结果的信息的来源选择和学习。因此，在学习理论中，不同信息来源之间竞争的想法很突出。社会科学和心理学中的大量数据支持这一主张。但是，在学习过程中多个信息来源竞争的发现并不普遍。在某些领域（即空间学习，类别学习）以及在使用动物的实验中，研究人员发现了多种信息来源之间的便利性（与竞争的相反），这导致了通过假设它们是“异常”来解释这些发现的特定理论的发展。因此，有一些理论旨在解释竞争，旨在解释促进的理论，但就导致这两种相反结果的情况尚无共识。 Urcelay主要基于在非人类动物进行的实验，最近假设竞争和促进是连续体的两个极端，由多个变量决定。该建议的目的是测试连续性（即事件的时间和空间分离）是否是这些相反发现的关键决定因素。我们预测竞争和促进是可以在不同的任务和认知领域中观察到的现象。因此，我们将随着复杂性的增加来测试不同学习准备的一般预测。首先，我们希望确定在预测的情况下，例如上述食品疾病示例，是否观察到竞争和促进性是假设食物消耗和疾病之间时间分离的函数。第二个目标是将这些发现扩展到行动结果任务。行动结果学习是代理，自由意志和责任感的基础。我们将在学习过程中同时介绍参与者的行动（即按下按钮）和其他环境事件（信号）的任务中观察到竞争或促进。我们将在操纵行动和结果之间的时间时做到这一点。我们预测，当动作后不久出现结果时，刺激将与动作结果学习竞争，但是当结果延迟时会发生相反的情况。这与人类的行为有关，因为我们的大多数行动之后是延迟的结果（例如，为退休节省；为孩子的出生做准备）。该提案的最终目的是研究空间学习中的这一预测，该预测将上述目标整合在更复杂和生态有效的环境中，同时将预测扩展到空间分离。值得注意的是，在空间学习中均观察到竞争和促进，但是尚未阐明这些差异发现的确切原因。在所有三个目标中，我们将进一步研究这三种情况下的竞争和促进性的心理机制（参与者是将不同的信息作为单独的要素处理或整体上）。这些发现对学习理论和教育具有重要意义。

项目成果

Social overshadowing: Revisiting cue-competition in social interactions.

• DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02229-3
• 发表时间: 2023-08
• 期刊: Psychonomic bulletin & review
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Telga M;Alcalá JA;Heyes C;Urcelay GP
• 通讯作者: Urcelay GP

Signal detection analysis of contingency assessment: Associative interference and nonreinforcement impact cue-outcome contingency sensitivity, whereas cue density affects bias.

• DOI: 10.1037/xan0000334
• 发表时间: 2022-07
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-ANIMAL LEARNING AND COGNITION
• 影响因子: 1.3
• 作者: Jozefowiez, Jeremie;Urcelay, Gonzalo P.;Miller, Ralph R.
• 通讯作者: Miller, Ralph R.

Encyclopedia of Behavioral Neuroscience, 2nd edition

行为神经科学百科全书，第二版

• DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.23952-7
• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Urcelay G

Temporal contiguity determines overshadowing and potentiation of human Action-Outcome performance.

• DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02155-4
• 发表时间: 2023-03
• 期刊: PSYCHONOMIC BULLETIN & REVIEW
• 影响因子: 3.5
• 作者: Alcala, Jose A.;Kirkden, Richard D.;Bray, Jess;Prados, Jose;Urcelay, Gonzalo P.
• 通讯作者: Urcelay, Gonzalo P.