Probability of response to compounds of discriminated stimuli.

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Abstract
The experiment was performed to determine the probability of a response in stimulus situations composed in part of stimuli to which this response had been conditioned, in part of stimuli to which an opposing response had been conditioned, and in part of stimuli to which neither response had been conditioned. The experiment also permitted a comparison between the obtained response probabilities and exact quantitative predictions of these probabilities derived from the set theoretical model of learning developed by Estes and Burke. The subjects (N = 234) were trained to discriminate between two disjoint sets of lights, and were then given a series of test trials on which lights from the two discriminated sets, and lights that had not been presented previously, appeared simultaneously in varying proportions. The results indicated that: (1) the discrimination curve is a negatively accelerated function as predicted by theory; and (2) the probability of a response in the presence of a particular test pattern is equal to the proportion of component stimuli that are conditioned to that response. Observed response proportions on test trials, were in close agreement with the predictions derived from the set theoretical model.
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