Schusterman R J
J Exp Anal Behav. 1966 Sep;9(5):593-600. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1966.9-593.
A sea lion under water performed virtually without errors on a series of three form-discrimination reversals. Significant training requirements were the combining of a previously well-established size cue preference with the nonpreferred form cue, followed by the gradual reduction of the size cue until it was completely eliminated. Orienting responses reached a peak and then decreased during progressive-dimensional-change training, suggesting critical stages in the transition of attention from the size dimension to the form dimension. Further experimentation revealed that intensive training during these critical stages obviated the need to reduce very gradually the size cue. Without special training sea lions make perseverative errors on a series of form-discrimination reversals. "Emotional" or nontest-oriented behavior was associated only with the occurrence of successive errors.
一只海狮在水下对一系列三次形状辨别逆转任务几乎毫无差错地完成。重要的训练要求是将先前已确立的大小线索偏好与非偏好的形状线索相结合，随后逐渐减少大小线索直至其完全消除。在渐进维度变化训练期间，定向反应达到峰值然后下降，这表明在注意力从大小维度向形状维度转变过程中存在关键阶段。进一步的实验表明，在这些关键阶段进行强化训练消除了非常缓慢减少大小线索的必要性。未经特殊训练的海狮在一系列形状辨别逆转任务中会犯持续性错误。“情绪化”或非测试导向行为仅与连续错误的出现相关。
