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Two-Alternative Learning Situations with Partial Reinforcement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2025

Mary I. Hanania
Mary I. Hanania*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
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Abstract

The comparative effects of reward and nonreward on learning are considered in connection with a two-alternative learning situation. Conditions are more general in nature than those discussed in an earlier article. In the statistical model proposed, the question of whether reward and nonreward are equivalent in their effects on learning reduces to testing a composite hypothesis on a multivariate probability distribution. An asymptotic test of this hypothesis is described, and its use is illustrated with data from psychological experiments.

Information

Type
Original Paper
Information
Psychometrika , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , March 1960 , pp. 77 - 90
Copyright
Copyright © 1960 The Psychometric Society

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Footnotes

*

This paper was prepared with the partial support of the Office of Naval Research, and may be reproduced in whole or in part for any purpose of the United States government.

†

I wish to express my gratitude to Professors J. Neyman and E. L. Scott of the University of California, Department of Statistics, for their constant assistance and encouragement throughout the research that led to this paper and during its preparation, and to Professor F. W. Irwin of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychology for his many helpful suggestions and comments.

‡

Presently at the American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.

References

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