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Roles of the qualities and locations of stimuli and responses in simple associative learning

The quality-location hypothesis

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Abstract

The Quality-Location Phenomenon is defined by the previous research of Lawicka (1964 and 1969) in which dogs easily learn go/no-go tasks to differences in stimulus quality and go-left/go-right tasks to differences in stimulus location whereas the opposite pairings of tasks and stimulus attributes are difficult to learn. The Lawicka-Konorski explanation in terms of drive differentiation and response selection is described, and a new hypothesis, the Quality-Location Hypothesis, is offered. This hypothesis states that the quality of a stimulus best serves as a cue for the quality of a response, whereas the location of a stimulus best serves as a cue for the location of a response. The evidence for the hypothesis is reviewed, and experimental considerations for its evaluation are mentioned.

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The preparation of this manuscript was supported by the U.S. Public Health Service under Grant NS03856 from the National Institute for Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke to the Central Institute for the Deaf.

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Miller, J.D., Bowe, C.A. Roles of the qualities and locations of stimuli and responses in simple associative learning. Pav. J. Biol. Sci. 17, 129–139 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001207

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