ABSTRACT
Discrimination learning can be facilitated or, conversely, impeded by previous learning; the positive or negative effect of the transfer is determined by the nature of what has been learned during the course of the task. As a general rule, a simple learnt discrimination, involving a single dimension of differentiation, is acquired more rapidly when preceded by a training session in which the same dimension is the relevant one, than when the pretraining involves a different dimension, or in the absence of pretraining altogether. Experiments involving reversal shifts and non-reversal shifts are classed as discrimination, as well as concept learning. The chapter outlines the classic experimental design from which they are all derived, and to which variations have gradually been added. A successful learning is explained by the fact that the stimuli in question have been both discriminated and identified. Experiments involving reversal shifts and non-reversal shifts are classed as discrimination, as well as concept learning.
