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Overshadowing of geometry learning by discrete landmarks in the water maze: Effects of relative salience and relative validity of competing cues

Kosaki, Y.; Austen, J.M.; McGregor, A.

Overshadowing of geometry learning by discrete landmarks in the water maze: Effects of relative salience and relative validity of competing cues Thumbnail


Authors

Y. Kosaki

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Joseph Austen j.m.austen@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy



Abstract

The effects of stimulus salience and cue validity in the overshadowing of geometric features of an enclosed arena by discrete landmarks were investigated in rats using the water maze paradigm. Experiment 1 established that in a rhomboid-shaped arena, the acute corner was more salient than the obtuse corner. In Experiment 2, rats were trained to find a submerged platform either in one of the acute, or obtuse, corners. In addition to the information provided by corner angle, the platform was also signaled by the presence of a spherical landmark suspended above the platform for rats in the experimental group. The landmark was a more valid cue for predicting the location of the platform than the angle of the corner. This training resulted in overshadowing of learning about the angle of the corner by the presence of the landmark. The final experiment extended this result by showing that when the predictive validities of the angle and the landmark were matched in the experimental group, learning about geometry was still overshadowed by the presence of landmarks, but only in animals that were trained with the platform at an obtuse, but not acute, corner. These results uniquely demonstrate that learning about geometry can be overshadowed by discrete landmarks, and also that whether overshadowing is observed depends on the stimulus salience and the relative validity of the competing cues. These findings imply that learning based on geometric cues follows the same basic rules that apply to a wide range of other learning paradigms.

Citation

Kosaki, Y., Austen, J., & McGregor, A. (2013). Overshadowing of geometry learning by discrete landmarks in the water maze: Effects of relative salience and relative validity of competing cues. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes, 39(2), 126-139. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031199

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Apr 1, 2013
Deposit Date Apr 23, 2012
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes
Print ISSN 0097-7403
Electronic ISSN 1939-2184
Publisher American Psychological Association
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 39
Issue 2
Pages 126-139
DOI https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031199

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© 2013 APA, all rights reserved. This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.





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