Nature et fonction du renforçateur dans l'apprentissage en situation aléatoire - article ; n°2 ; vol.73, pg 477-492

L'année psychologique - Année 1973 - Volume 73 - Numéro 2 - Pages 477-492
Summary
In various learning situations there is an uncertainty about the identity of the real reinforcer : a direct information about the right outcome of a trial indirectly gives a due about the accuracy of the answer and vice versa.
Our purpose was to vary either the sanction aspect leaving invariant the information aspect, or vary the information aspect leaving invariant the sanction aspect. The problem was considered with 5 and 8-year old children and with adult subjects in a three-choice « probability-learning » situation (π = .60 ; .20 ; .20). In experiment I, all the subjects receive a direct information, non-contingent upon the answer of each trial ; in the experimental condition, one of the three answers is always wrong, though the corresponding event happens with a specified probability of .20 ; the average frequencies for the three answers do not differ from the ones observed in the control condition. In experiment II, the experimental group does not receive any information about the correct outcome after a wrong prediction ; the average frequency of major answer is significantly inferior to the one in the control group where this information is indepen-dent of the answer. In these two experiments, the main effect of the difference of treatment is independent of the age, but some more precise effects like repetition probability of a good or wrong answer are dependent on age.
le groupe expérimental ne reçoit aucune information sur l'éventualité correcte après une prédiction inexacte ; la fréquence moyenne de la réponse majoritaire est significativement inférieure à celle du groupe contrôle où cette information est indépendante de la réponse. Dans les deux expériences, l'effet principal de la différence de traitement est indépendant de l'âge, mais non certains effets plus fins comme la probabilité de répétition d'une réponse exacte ou inexacte.
16 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.