The effects of stimulus pre-exposure and conditioning on overt visual attention.

Three experiments (a, b, c) combined to provide a well-powered examination of the effects of stimulus pre-exposure and conditioning on visual attention using an eye tracker and a space-shooter video game where a colored flashing light predicted an attacking spaceship. In each, group "control" received no pre-exposure to the light, group "same" received pre-exposure in the same context as conditioning, and group "different" received pre-exposure in a different context. Experiments differed in visual details regarding the game (1a vs.

Conditioned anticipatory outcome searching in humans.

Two experiments used eye tracking to examine visual searching for expected outcomes in humans during an associative-learning task. In both, participants learned to press keys on a keyboard to activate weapons to repel invading spaceships in the presence of predictive "sensors." In both experiments, eye tracking showed that participants came to direct their overt visual attention to the portions of the screen where the spaceship would arrive during the presentation of the sensor in a cue-specific manner.

Instruction-driven processing in human perceptual learning.

We conducted a series of experiments to determine the relative contribution of unsupervised versus controlled mechanisms to the intermixed-blocked effect. In Experiment 1, participants received pre-exposure instructions prompting a search for differences between stimuli, in keeping with past studies, and the intermixed-blocked effect was observed. In the remaining experiments, participants did not receive the aforementioned instructions, but instead were instructed either to simply observe the stimuli (Experiment 2) or in relation to a masking task (Experiment 3).

Presentation and validation of "The Learning Game," a tool to study associative learning in humans.

This article presents a 3-D science-fiction-based videogame method to study learning, and two experiments that we used to validate it. In this method, participants are first trained to respond to enemy spaceships (Stimulus 2, or S2) with particular keypresses, followed by transport to a new context (galaxy), where other manipulations can occur. During conditioning, colored flashing lights (Stimulus 1, or S1) can predict S2, and the response attached to S2 from the prior phase comes to be evoked by S1.

The Sunk-Time Effect: An Exploration.

We explored the potential for a sunk-cost effect in the realm of time. Questionnaire studies (Experiments 1-4) obtained a sunk-time effect that was robust to manipulations of prospective value, individual versus group consequences, and the effort or enjoyment inherent in the time. Behavioral experiments (Experiments 5-7) also suggested a sunk-time effect and found support for a personal responsibility by sunk cost interaction on choice behavior.

The sunk cost effect in pigeons and humans.

The sunk cost effect is the increased tendency to persist in an endeavor once an investment of money, effort, or time has been made. To date, humans are the only animal in which this effect has been observed unambiguously. We developed a behavior-analytic model of the sunk cost effect to explore the potential for this behavior in pigeons as well as in humans.