The feature-positive effect in adult human subjects

Previous experiments with animals and young children have shown that discriminations based on the presence versus absence of a single feature are learned more easily when the feature appears on reinforced rather than nonreinforced displays. Six experiments demonstrated an analogous effect in college students, across a range of stimulus materials, general procedures, kinds of feedback, pacing of trials, and instructions to the subject. The results were analyzed in terms of the exceptionally strong control of behavior by events that are present on positive trials. These findings have implications for theoretical interpretations of human concept learning and decision making, and offer additional examples of the difficulty organisms experience in using "nonoccurrence" as a cue.