LEARNING TO LEARN - REAL-TIME FEATURES AND A CONNECTIONIST MODEL

Two experiments used classical conditioning to examine transfer of res ponse features specific to the warning interval between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US). Rabbits were given i nitial training with a stimulus (CSA) in one modality (tone) at a desi gnated interval (e.g, 200 ms). in a second stage, the conditioned resp onse (CR) to CSA was extinguished. Finally, training was shifted to a new stimulus (CSB) in another modality (light) at a new interval (e.g. , 400 ms). Compared to rest controls, there was an enhanced rate of CR acquisition to CSB and a tendency for early CRs to CSB to reflect the CSA-US interval. However, the extinction procedure and the change in CS-US interval together reduced these two aspects of transfer across s timulus modalities. The findings are discussed in terms of their impli cations for theories of cross-modal transfer. A layered network with r eal-time features is offered.