"Associative concept learning in animals" by Zentall, Wasserman, and Urcuioli: a commentary

• Published in: Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior Vol. 101; no. 1; pp. 161 - 164
• Main Author: McIlvane, William J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2014
• Subjects: Animals; Association Learning; Behavior; Birds; Concept Formation; Concept Teaching; Humans; Individualized Instruction; Laboratory animals; Studies; Symmetry; Theory; Topography
• ISSN: 0022-5002; 1938-3711; 1938-3711
• DOI: 10.1002/jeab.59

This opportunity to comment on the article by Zentall, Wasserman, and Urcuioli allows the author to thank them for their impressive body of work. Their pioneering efforts have influenced the careers of a large number of researchers who have been interested the analysis of stimulus control. During my graduate training in Sidman's group at the Shriver Center, papers from these investigators were prominently featured within the curriculum and/or their lab meetings. In studying them, reseachers learned a lot about designing stimulus control experiments and developing variations on basic-matching-to-sample procedures that could be applied to enhance analyses of attending and remembering. The author conclude by making a speculative prediction about the future course of empirical work in this general area. Zentall, Wasserman, and Urcuioli will be proven correct empirically in the essence of the arguments that they make in the present article -- but not for many years. The author is not talking only about the now-bleak prospects for obtaining funding to support basic behavioral research.