|
| SQAB Tutorial: Stimulus Control |
| Saturday, May 26, 2007 |
| 3:00 PM–3:50 PM |
| Randle AB |
| Area: EAB; Domain: Basic Research |
| Chair: Thomas Zentall (University of Kentucky) |
| Presenting Authors: : ROBERT COOK (Tufts University) |
| Abstract: Stimulus control is one of the essential features of behavior, as animals learn to differentially behave to specific stimuli in a remarkably wide variety of settings. This important capacity allows animals to adaptively organize their behavior to both present and future situations. This tutorial will provide an overview of this topic, its fundamental methods, established principles and mechanisms, and outstanding problems and issues. These themes will be illustrated in part by new advances in the study of object perception, the relationship between stimulus-specific and relationally-controlled modes of behavior, and the organization of behavior over time. |
| |
| ROBERT COOK (Tufts University) |
 Dr. Robert Cook has studied animal cognition and behavior for over twenty-five years. His National Science Foundation-supported comparative research has focused extensively on stimulus control, discrimination learning, and memory in animals. He has made important advances in our understanding of the specific mechanisms of object perception, selective attention, long-term memory, and relational learning in birds. He is chair of and a Full Professor in the Psychology Department at Tufts University. He received his B.S. in Psychology from The Ohio State University and his Ph.D. in Biopsychology from the University of California, Berkeley. He was also a National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston before his position at Tufts. He is currently the co-editor of Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews and has been on the editorial broad of the top journals in animal cognition. He has also been very active in broadening the impact and public visibility of the area's scientific work by use of the Internet with the publication of the multimedia cyberbooks, Avian Visual Cognition, and the upcoming volume, Animal Spatial Cognition. |
|
| |