Dr. Robert A. Rescorla, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Ruth M. Colwill, of Brown University, are collaborating in research on the learned basis of elementary goal-directed behavior. A large proportion of learned behavior of humans and other animals involves such goal-direction, and its understanding is central to many psychological processes. Drs. Rescorla and Colwill are using a widely-accepted model behavioral system in which laboratory rats receive positive outcomes when they engage in designated behaviors (responses) in the presence of signals. Such an arrangement can potentially result in the learning of a variety of relations among signal, response, and outcome. The overall goal of the project is to explore the nature of the associative relations that are actually learned. Four types of associative relations have been indicated by the results of previous research by Drs. Rescorla and Colwill, and will be the special focus of this project: (a) an association between the response and its outcome; (b) an association between the signal and that outcome; (c) an association between the signal and the response; and finally (d) a hierarchical association between the signal and the response- outcome relation. The theoretical analysis to be conducted draws heavily on our currently well-developed understanding of a related learning process, Pavlovian conditioning. In the past twenty years, our understanding of Pavlovian conditioning has advanced and changed dramatically, partly as a result of previous NSF-supported research in Dr. Rescorla's laboratory. It is natural and timely to attempt an extension of our understanding of Pavlovian associations to the more complex and intrinsically more important case of goal-directed behaviors. The prospects for significant advancement are substantial and exciting.
