Discrimination Learning : Non-additivity of Cues

Abstract

ANIMALS solve a discrimination problem more rapidly when two cues are present and relevant than when either cue is present on its own. Thus Eninger¹ found that rats learned to take the correct turn in a maze faster when the correct turn was signalled by both a visual and an auditory cue than when it was signalled by one without the other. Warren² found that monkeys learned to discriminate faster between objects differing in size and form than between objects differing in size or form alone. This phenomenon has been named ‘additivity of cues’ and has usually been interpreted to mean that individual animals solve problems containing two cues by learning to attach the correct responses to both: if animals learn to make the response as fast to each cue when they are presented together as they do to a single cue presented on its own, their discrimination performance will improve more rapidly when both cues are present than when one alone is present³.