Topic: stimulus repetition

It is widely acknowledged that top-down influences such as our prior experiences, expectations and knowledge influence the way in which we perceive information. However less attention has been given to how different sources of top-down influences interact when modifying sensory information. In this study we utilized concurrent behavioral and EEG measurements to examine the main and interactive effects of two sources of expectations - informative hints (semantic priming) and stimulus repetition - in an auditory task relying on recognizing spoken words embedded in noise. We manipulated participa

Is context nothing more than "a backdrop where learning occurs?" In learning theory there is an ongoing debate about what constitutes a context. This implies a strict division between stimuli that act as cues and those that act as context. In extinction learning, a highly context-sensitive learning process, after the cessation of a behavior, its reappearance as renewal occurs after the change of context. In this study, we tested the ability of competing stimuli to act as context in an appetitive extinction learning paradigm in pigeons (Columba livia) . The ability of each stimulus to act as a