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Related Concept Videos

Purposive Learning01:22

Purposive Learning

E. C. Tolman emphasized the purposiveness of behavior — the idea that much of our behavior is goal-directed. For instance, employees who aim for a promotion work diligently to meet their targets. Tolman argued that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, the organism acquires certain expectations. In classical conditioning, a child might fear a dog because they expect it to bite. In operant conditioning, a person might consistently work overtime because they expect a bonus...
Accuracy and Precision01:52

Accuracy and Precision

Scientists typically make repeated measurements of a quantity to ensure the quality of their findings and to evaluate both the precision and the accuracy of their results. Measurements are said to be precise if they yield very similar results when repeated in the same manner. A measurement is considered accurate if it yields a result that is very close to the true or the accepted value. Precise values agree with each other; accurate values agree with a true value.  Highly accurate measurements...
Cognitive Learning01:21

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Using Rapid Serial Visual Presentation to Measure Set-Specific Capture, a Consequence of Distraction While Multitasking
05:58

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Published on: August 29, 2018

Task precision at transfer determines specificity of perceptual learning.

Pamela E Jeter1, Barbara Anne Dosher, Alexander Petrov

  • 1Memory Attention Perception (MAP) Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Sciences, UC Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-5100, USA. pjeter@uci.edu

Journal of Vision
|September 18, 2009
PubMed
Summary

Perceptual learning specificity depends on the precision demands of the transfer task, not training difficulty. Performance improvements transfer to low-precision tasks but remain specific to high-precision tasks.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Science
  • Visual System Plasticity

Background:

  • Perceptual learning demonstrates adult visual system plasticity.
  • Existing theories link learning specificity to training task difficulty.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To challenge the claim that training difficulty dictates perceptual learning specificity.
  • To investigate the role of transfer task precision in controlling specificity versus transfer.

Main Methods:

  • Orientation discrimination tasks were used to train and test perceptual learning.
  • Varying precision demands (orientation differences) in transfer tasks were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Specificity of performance improvement is determined by the precision demands of the transfer task.
  • Transfer occurs in low-precision transfer tasks, while specificity is observed in high-precision transfer tasks.
  • This effect is independent of the precision used during initial training.

Conclusions:

  • Precision demands of the transfer task are the primary controllers of perceptual learning specificity and transfer.
  • Understanding specificity provides constraints on mechanisms of visual learning transfer.
  • Findings are crucial for expertise development and remediation applications.