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Updated: Feb 4, 2026
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Quantifying Learning in Young Infants: Tracking Leg Actions During a Discovery-learning Task
Published on: June 1, 2015
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Information, certainty, and learning
Justin A Harris1, Charles Randy Gallistel2
1The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia.
Elife
|February 2, 2026
Summary
Rats
Area of Science:
- Behavioral neuroscience
- Animal learning
Background:
- Gibbon and Balsam (1981) linked Pavlovian conditioning acquisition to stimulus informativeness (CS-US ratio).
- Evidence for this relationship in other species remains inconclusive.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between learning and stimulus informativeness in rats.
- To determine if the CS-US ratio influences conditioning acquisition and response rates.
Main Methods:
- 14 groups of rats were trained with varying CS-US ratios (C/T).
- Acquisition of appetitive Pavlovian conditioning was measured.
- Response rates during conditioning and inter-trial intervals were analyzed.
Main Results:
- The C/T ratio determined the number of trials for conditioning acquisition.
- Learning rate showed a scalar relationship with informativeness, similar to pigeons.
- Response rates were related to reinforcement rates (1/T and 1/C).
Conclusions:
- Animals encode reinforcement rates, with conditioning dependent on CS informativeness.
- Findings suggest a universal model of conditioning across species.
- The study validates the informativeness principle in animal learning.
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