Deterministic response strategies in a trial-and-error learning task
Fig 3
Example for a deterministic response pattern.
Using the response order dfkl, the deterministic response pattern unfolds in the following way: Before trial 1, all four stimuli are to be responded by the first response of the response order, which is response d in this example. Due to the negative feedback in trial 1, the designated response for stimulus S1 is set to the next response according to the response order, which is f in this example. In the second trial, responding with d to stimulus S2 results in positive feedback, thus response d is logged in as the correct response for this stimulus. Importantly, due to the one-to-one property of the S-R mappings, the response d is blocked for the other three stimuli, thus the designated responses for stimuli S3 and S4 are set to the next unoccupied response, which is f. In trial 3, response f is logged in for stimulus S1, and the designated responses for stimuli S3, S4 are set to the next response according to the response order, which is response k in this example. In trial 4, responding with k to stimulus S3 results in negative feedback. At this point, again due to the one-to-one property of the S-R mapping, one can conclude that the correct response to stimulus S3 must be l. Moreover, although stimulus S4 has not yet been presented at this point, its correct response k can already be inferred.