
Professor John M Pearce
FLSW FRS - BSc Leeds, DPhil Sussex
Emeritus Professor
Overview
Research summary
My research is concerned with understanding the fundamental mechanisms of intelligence in animals, with particular emphasis placed on learning. With Geoffrey Hall, from the University of York, I have developed an original theory concerning the role that attention plays in learning. According to this theory, animals will pay attention to a task while they learn about it, but once it has been mastered, they will direct their attention elsewhere. I have also developed a theory about the information animals acquire when a pattern of stimulation is repeatedly used to signal an important event, such as food. The pattern of stimulation is assumed to be remembered as a sort of mental snapshot, based on all the information that was present immediately prior to the occurrence of food.
Most of the foregoing research is based on experiments conducted in test chambers that provide a well controlled environment for studying the fundamental mechanisms of animal intelligence. Other research of mine is exploring the extent to which the principles derived from this research extends to more naturalistic settings, such as navigating through familiar territory to locate a hidden goal. Thus far, the principles appear to apply reasonably well to both types of environment.
Teaching summary
I offer a series of lectures on animal intelligence for the Biological Psychology module in Year 1. In Year 2, I present a practical on perception. In Year 3, I contribute to the Animal Learning and Cognition module.
Biography
Undergraduate education
1971 BSc, University of Leeds, Department of Psychology.
Postgraduate education
1976 DPhil, University of Sussex, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology.
Awards/external committees
2012-2014: President of the Experimental Psychology Society.
2012: Elected Fellow of the Eastern Psychological Association.
2012: British Psychological Society Award for Excellence in Psychology Education.
2010: Founding Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales
2009: Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
2008: 36th Bartlett Lecturer.
2006: Elected Fellow of the Royal Society.
2001: Quad-L award from the University of New Mexico for contribution to the study of learning, memory and cognition
Employment
1976-1978: SERC Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of York.
1978-1980: MRC Research Fellow, Psychological Laboratory, University of Cambridge.
1980-1988: Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University College, Cardiff.
1988-1992: Reader, School of Psychology, University of Wales College of Cardiff.
External Appointments
1987-1988: Visiting Professor, Department of Psychology, Duke University, USA 1999: Visiting Fellow, Institute of Advanced Study, Indiana University, Bloomington, USA 2001: Visiting Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. 2007- 2010: International Mentor to PhD student Anna Thorwart, University of Marburg.
Publications
2020
- Uengoer, M., Lachnit, H. and Pearce, J. M. 2020. The role of common elements in the redundancy effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition 46(3), pp. 286-296. (10.1037/xan0000236)
2019
- Uengoer, M., Dwyer, D. M., Koenig, S. and Pearce, J. M. 2019. A test for a difference in the associability of blocked and uninformative cues in human predictive learning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 72(2), pp. 222-237. (10.1080/17470218.2017.1345957)
2018
- Inman, R. A. and Pearce, J. M. 2018. The discrimination of magnitude: A review and theoretical analysis. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 153(PB), pp. 118-130. (10.1016/j.nlm.2018.03.020)
- Kosaki, Y., Pearce, J. M. and McGregor, A. 2018. The response strategy and the place strategy in a plus-maze have different sensitivities to devaluation of expected outcome. Hippocampus 28(7), pp. 484-496. (10.1002/hipo.22847)
- Uengoer, M., Pearce, J. M., Lachnit, H. and Koenig, S. 2018. Context modulation of learned attention deployment. Learning & Behavior 46(1), pp. 23-37. (10.3758/s13420-017-0277-y)
2015
- Inman, R. A., Honey, R. C. and Pearce, J. M. 2015. Asymmetry in the discrimination of quantity: the role of stimulus generalization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition 41(4), pp. 309-321. (10.1037/xan0000073)
- Kosaki, Y. and Pearce, J. M. 2015. Asymmetrical generalization of length in the rat. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition 41(3), pp. 266-276. (10.1037/xan0000056)
- Heyes, C. and Pearce, J. M. 2015. Not-so-social learning strategies. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282(1802), article number: 20141709. (10.1098/rspb.2014.1709)
- Inman, R. A., Honey, R. C., Eccles, G. L. and Pearce, J. M. 2015. Asymmetry in the discrimination of quantity by rats: the role of the intertrial interval. Learning & Behavior 44(1), pp. 67-77. (10.3758/s13420-015-0191-0)
- Nelson, A. J. D., Hindley, E., Pearce, J. M., Vann, S. D. and Aggleton, J. P. 2015. The effect of retrosplenial cortex lesions in rats on incidental and active spatial learning. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 9, article number: 11. (10.3389/fnbeh.2015.00011)
- Dumont, J. R., Jones, P. M., Pearce, J. M. and Kosaki, Y. 2015. Evidence for concrete but not abstract representation of length during spatial learning in rats. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition 41(1), pp. 91-104. (10.1037/xan0000044)
2014
- Jones, P. M. and Pearce, J. M. 2014. The fate of redundant cues: Further analysis of the redundancy effect. Learning and Behavior (10.3758/s13420-014-0162-x)
- Kosaki, Y., Lin, T. E., Horne, M. R., Pearce, J. M. and Gilroy, K. E. 2014. The role of the hippocampus in passive and active spatial learning. Hippocampus 24(12), pp. 1633-1652. (10.1002/hipo.22343)
- Gilroy, K. E. and Pearce, J. M. 2014. The role of local, distal, and global information in latent spatial learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition 40(2), pp. 212-224. (10.1037/xan0000017)
- Dumont, J. R., Wright, N. F., Pearce, J. M. and Aggleton, J. P. 2014. The impact of anterior thalamic lesions on active and passive spatial learning in stimulus controlled environments: Geometric cues and pattern arrangement. Behavioral Neuroscience 128(2), pp. 161-177. (10.1037/a0036280)
2013
- Albasser, M. M., Dumont, J. R., Amin, E., Holmes, J., Horne, M. R., Pearce, J. M. and Aggleton, J. P. 2013. Association rules for rat spatial learning: the importance of the hippocampus for binding item identity with item location. Hippocampus 23(12), pp. 1162-1178. (10.1002/hipo.22154)
- Uengoer, M., Lotz, A. and Pearce, J. M. 2013. The fate of redundant cues in human predictive learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 39(4), pp. 323-333. (10.1037/a0034073)
- Kosaki, Y., Jones, P. M. and Pearce, J. M. 2013. Asymmetry in the discrimination of length during spatial learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 39(4), pp. 342-356. (10.1037/a0032570)
- Uengoer, M., Lachnit, H., Lotz, A., Koenig, S. and Pearce, J. M. 2013. Contextual control of attentional allocation in human discrimination learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 39(1), pp. 56-66. (10.1037/a0030599)
2012
- George, D. N. and Pearce, J. M. 2012. A configural theory of attention and associative learning. Learning & Behavior 40(3), pp. 241-254. (10.3758/s13420-012-0078-2)
- Cuell, S. F., Good, M. A., Dopson, J. C., Pearce, J. M. and Horne, M. R. 2012. Changes in Attention to Relevant and Irrelevant Stimuli During Spatial Learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 38(3), pp. 244-254. (10.1037/a0028491)
- Horne, M. R., Gilroy, K. E., Cuell, S. F. and Pearce, J. M. 2012. Latent spatial learning in an environment with a distinctive shape. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 38(2), pp. 139-147. (10.1037/a0027288)
- Pearce, J. M., Dopson, J. C., Haselgrove, M. and Esber, G. R. 2012. The fate of redundant cues during blocking and a simple discrimination. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 38(2), pp. 167-179. (10.1037/a0027662)
- Dopson, J. C., Esber, G. O. R. and Pearce, J. M. 2012. Erratum to: Changes in attention to an irrelevant cue that accompanies a negative patterning discrimination. Learning & Behavior 40(1), pp. 115-115. (10.3758/s13420-011-0061-3)
- Lotz, A., Uengoer, M., Koenig, S., Pearce, J. M. and Lachnit, H. 2012. An exploration of the feature-positive effect in adult humans. Learning & Behavior 40(2), pp. 222-230. (10.3758/s13420-011-0057-z)
2011
- Aggleton, J. P., Amin, E., Jenkins, T. A., Pearce, J. M. and Ward-Robinson, J. 2011. Lesions in the anterior thalamic nuclei of rats do not disrupt acquisition of stimulus sequence learning. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 64(1), pp. 65-73. (10.1080/17470218.2010.495407)
- Albasser, M. M., Amin, E., Iordanova, M. D., Brown, M. W., Pearce, J. M. and Aggleton, J. P. 2011. Perirhinal cortex lesions uncover subsidiary systems in the rat for the detection of novel and familiar objects. European Journal of Neuroscience 34(2), pp. 331-342. (10.1111/j.1460-9568.2011.07755.x)
- Albasser, M. M., Amin, E., Iordanova, M. D., Brown, M. W., Pearce, J. M. and Aggleton, J. P. 2011. Separate but interacting recognition memory systems for different senses: The role of the rat perirhinal cortex. Learning & Memory 18(7), pp. 435-443. (10.1101/lm.2132911)
- Dopson, J. C., Esber, G. O. R. and Pearce, J. M. 2011. Changes in attention to an irrelevant cue that accompanies a negative attending discrimination. Learning & Behavior 39(4), pp. 336-349. (10.3758/s13420-011-0029-3)
- Horne, M. R. and Pearce, J. M. 2011. Potentiation and overshadowing between landmarks and environmental geometric cues. Learning & Behavior 39(4), pp. 371-382. (10.3758/s13420-011-0032-8)
2010
- Horne, M. R. and Pearce, J. M. 2010. Conditioned inhibition and superconditioning in an environment with a distinctive shape. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 36(3), pp. 381-394. (10.1037/a0017837)
- Haselgrove, M., Esber, G. O. R., Pearce, J. M. and Jones, P. M. 2010. Two kinds of attention in Pavlovian conditioning: Evidence for a hybrid model of learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 36(4), pp. 456-470. (10.1037/a0018528)
- Dopson, J. C., Esber, G. O. R. and Pearce, J. M. 2010. Differences in the associability of relevant and irrelevant stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 36(2), pp. 258-267. (10.1037/a0016588)
- Horne, M. R., Iordanova, M. D., Albasser, M. M., Aggleton, J. P., Honey, R. C. and Pearce, J. M. 2010. Lesions of the perirhinal cortex do not impair integration of visual and geometric information in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience 124(3), pp. 311-320. (10.1037/a0019287)
- Aggleton, J. P., Albasser, M. M., Aggleton, D. J., Poirier, G. L. and Pearce, J. M. 2010. Lesions of the rat perirhinal cortex spare the acquisition of a complex configural visual discrimination yet impair object recognition. Behavioral Neuroscience 124(1), pp. 55-68. (10.1037/a0018320)
- Dopson, J. C., Williams, N. A., Esber, G. O. R. and Pearce, J. M. 2010. Stimuli that signal the absence of reinforcement are paid more attention than are irrelevant stimuli. Learning & Behavior 38(4), pp. 337-347. (10.3758/LB.38.4.337)
- Horne, M. R., Iordanova, M. D. and Pearce, J. M. 2010. Spatial learning based on boundaries in rats is hippocampus-dependent and prone to overshadowing. Behavioral Neuroscience 124(5), pp. 623-632. (10.1037/a0020824)
- Pearce, J. M. and Mackintosh, N. J. 2010. Two theories of attention: a review and a possible integration. In: Mitchell, C. and Le Pelley, M. E. eds. Attention and Associative Learning: From Brain to Behaviour. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 11-39.
2009
- Horne, M. R. and Pearce, J. M. 2009. A landmark blocks searching for a hidden platform in an environment with a distinctive shape after extended pretraining. Learning & Behavior 37(2), pp. 167-178. (10.3758/LB.37.2.167)
- Esber, G. O. R., Pearce, J. M. and Haselgrove, M. 2009. Enhancement of responding to A after A+/AX+ training: Challenges for a comparator theory of learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 35(4), pp. 485-497. (10.1037/a0014908)
- McGregor, A., Horne, M. R., Esber, G. O. R. and Pearce, J. M. 2009. Absence of overshadowing between a landmark and geometric cues in a distinctively shaped environment: A test of Miller and Shettleworth (2007). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 35(3), pp. 357-370. (10.1037/a0014536)
- Horne, M. R. and Pearce, J. M. 2009. Between-cue associations influence searching for a hidden goal in an environment with a distinctive shape. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 35(1), pp. 99-107. (10.1037/0097-7403.35.1.99)
- Aggleton, J. P., Poirier, G. L., Aggleton, H. S., Vann, S. D. and Pearce, J. M. 2009. Lesions of the fornix and anterior thalamic nuclei dissociate different aspects of hippocampal-dependent spatial learning: Implications for the neural basis of scene learning. Behavioral Neuroscience 123(3), pp. 504-519. (10.1037/a0015404)
- Pearce, J. M. 2009. The 36th Sir Frederick Bartlett Lecture: An associative analysis of spatial learning. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 62(9), pp. 1665-1684. (10.1080/17470210902805589)
- Dopson, J. C., Pearce, J. M. and Haselgrove, M. 2009. Failure of retrospective revaluation to influence blocking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 35(4), pp. 473-484. (10.1037/a0014907)
2008
- Haselgrove, M., Robinson, J., Nelson, A. J. D. and Pearce, J. M. 2008. Analysis of an ambiguous-feature discrimination. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 61(11), pp. 1710-1752. (10.1080/17470210701680746)
- Pearce, J. M. 2008. Animal learning and cognition: An introduction. 3rd ed.. Hove: Psychology Press.
- Kyd, R. J., Pearce, J. M., Haselgrove, M., Amin, E. and Aggleton, J. P. 2008. The effects of hippocampal system lesions on a novel temporal discrimination task for rats. Behavioural Brain Research 187(1), pp. 159-171. (10.1016/j.bbr.2007.09.010)
- Haselgrove, M., Robinson, J., Nelson, A. and Pearce, J. M. 2008. Analysis of an ambiguous-feature discrimination. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 61(11), pp. 1710-1725. (10.1080/17470210701680746)
- Pearce, J. M., Esber, G. O. R., George, D. N. and Haselgrove, M. 2008. The nature of discrimination learning in pigeons. Learning & Behavior 36(3), pp. 188-199. (10.3758/LB.36.3.188)
- Mui, R., Haselgrove, M., Pearce, J. M. and Heyes, C. 2008. Automatic imitation in budgerigars. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275(1651), pp. 2547-2553. (10.1098/rspb.2008.0566)
2007
- Jones, P. M., Pearce, J. M., Davies, V. J., Good, M. A. and McGregor, A. 2007. Impaired processing of local geometric features during navigation in a water maze following hippocampal lesions in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience 121(6), pp. 1258-1271. (10.1037/0735-7044.121.6.1258)
- Aggleton, J. P., Sanderson, D. J. and Pearce, J. M. 2007. Structural learning and the hippocampus. Hippocampus 17(9), pp. 723-734. (10.1002/hipo.20323)
- Davies, M., Machin, P., Sanderson, D., Pearce, J. M. and Aggleton, J. P. 2007. Neurotoxic lesions of the rat perirhinal and postrhinal cortices and their impact on biconditional visual discrimination tasks. Behavioural Brain Research 176(2), pp. 274-283. (10.1016/j.bbr.2006.10.005)
- Mui, R. S., Haselgrove, M., McGregor, A., Futter, J. E., Heyes, C. and Pearce, J. M. 2007. The discrimination of natural movement by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulates) and pigeons (Columba livia). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 33(4), pp. 371-380. (10.1037/0097-7403.33.4.371)
- Pearce, J. M. 2007. How does a yak find a drink?. The Psychologist 20(9), pp. 552-554.
2006
- Bingman, V. P., Erichsen, J. T., Anderson, J. . D., Good, M. A. and Pearce, J. M. 2006. Spared feature-structure discrimination but diminished salience of environmental geometry in hippocampal-lesioned homing pigeons (Columba livia). Behavioral Neuroscience 120(4), pp. 835-841. (10.1037/0735-7044.120.4.835)
- Pearce, J. M., Graham, M. A., Good, M. A., Jones, P. M. and McGregor, A. 2006. Potentiation, overshadowing, and blocking of spatial learning based on the shape of the environment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 32(3), pp. 201-214. (10.1037/0097-7403.32.3.201)
- Amin, E., Pearce, J. M., Brown, M. W. and Aggleton, J. P. 2006. Novel temporal configurations of stimuli produce discrete changes in immediate-early gene expression in the rat hippocampus. European Journal of Neuroscience 24(9), pp. 2611-2621. (10.1111/j.1460-9568.2006.05131.x)
- Graham, M. A., Good, M. A., McGregor, A. and Pearce, J. M. 2006. Spatial learning based on the shape of the environment is influenced by properties of the objects forming the shape. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 32(1), pp. 44-59. (10.1037/0097-7403.32.1.44)
- Sanderson, D. J., Pearce, J. M., Kyd, R. J. and Aggleton, J. P. 2006. The importance of the rat hippocampus for learning the structure of visual arrays. European Journal of Neuroscience 24(6), pp. 1781-1788. (10.1111/j.1460-9568.2006.05035.x)
- McGregor, A., Saggerson, A., Pearce, J. M. and Heyes, C. 2006. Blind imitation in pigeons, Columba livia. Animal Behaviour 72(2), pp. 287-296. (10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.10.026)
- McGregor, A., Jones, P. M., Good, M. A. and Pearce, J. M. 2006. Further evidence that rats rely on local rather than global spatial information to locate a hidden goal: reply to Cheng and Gallistel (2005). Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 32(3), pp. 314-321. (10.1037/0097-7403.32.3.314)
2005
- Pearce, J. M., George, D. N., Haselgrove, M., Erichsen, J. T. and Good, M. A. 2005. The influence of hippocampal lesions on the discrimination of structure and on spatial memory in pigeons (Columba livia). Behavioral Neuroscience 119(5), pp. 1316-1330. (10.1037/0735-7044.119.5.1316)
- Haselgrove, M., George, D. N. and Pearce, J. M. 2005. Discrimination of structure: III. Representation of spatial relationships. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 31(4), pp. 433-448. (10.1037/0097-7403.31.4.433)
- Ramos-Esber, G., McGregor, A., Good, M. A., Hayward, A. and Pearce, J. M. 2005. Transfer of spatial behaviour controlled by a landmark array with a distinctive shape. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 58(1), pp. 69-91. (10.1080/02724990444000069)
2004
- McGregor, A., Hayward, A. J., Pearce, J. M. and Good, M. A. 2004. Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on the shape of the environment. Behavioral Neuroscience 118(5), pp. 1011-1021. (10.1037/0735-7044.118.5.1011)
- Hayward, A. J., Good, M. A. and Pearce, J. M. 2004. Failure of a landmark to restrict spatial learning based on the shape of the environment. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 57(4), pp. 289-314. (10.1080/02724990344000150)
- Haselgrove, M., Aydin, A. and Pearce, J. M. 2004. A partial reinforcement extinction effect despite equal rates of reinforcement during Pavlovian conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 30(3), pp. 240-250. (10.1037/0097-7403.30.3.240)
- Pearce, J. M., Good, M. A., Jones, P. M. and McGregor, A. 2004. Transfer of spatial behavior between different environments: implications for theories of spatial learning and for the role of the hippocampus in spatial learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 30(2), pp. 135-147. (10.1037/0097-7403.30.2.135)
- Jenkins, T. A., Amin, E., Pearce, J. M., Brown, M. W. and Aggleton, J. P. 2004. Novel spatial arrangements of familiar visual stimuli promote activity in the rat hippocampal formation but not the parahippocampal cortices: a c-fos expression study. Neuroscience 124(1), pp. 43-52. (10.1016/j.neuroscience.2003.11.024)
- McGregor, A., Good, M. A. and Pearce, J. M. 2004. Absence of an interaction between navigational strategies based on local and distal landmarks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 30(1), pp. 34-44. (10.1037/0097-7403.30.1.34)
- Pearce, J. M. 2004. Is Conditioned Behavior Based on Decisions or Associations?. PsycCRITIQUES 49(3), pp. 334-336. (10.1037/004351)
2003
- George, D. N. and Pearce, J. M. 2003. Discrimination of structure: II. Feature binding. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 29(2), pp. 107-117. (10.1037/0097-7403.29.2.107)
- Haselgrove, M. and Pearce, J. M. 2003. Facilitation of extinction by an increase or a decrease in trial duration. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 29(2), pp. 153-166. (10.1037/0097-7403.29.2.153)
- Pearce, J. M. and George, D. N. 2003. Visual search asymmetry in pigeons. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 29(2), pp. 118-129. (10.1037/0097-7403.29.2.118)
- Hayward, A., McGregor, A., Good, M. A. and Pearce, J. M. 2003. Absence of overshadowing and blocking between landmarks and the geometric cues provided by the shape of a test arena. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 56(1), pp. 114-126. (10.1080/02724990244000214)
- Zheng, Y., Pearce, J. M., Vann, S. D., Good, M. A., Jenkins, T. A., Smith, P. F. and Aggleton, J. P. 2003. Using Idiothetic Cues to Swim a Path With a Fixed Trajectory and Distance: Necessary Involvement of the Hippocampus, but Not the Retrosplenial Cortex. Behavioral Neuroscience 117(6), pp. 1363-1377. (10.1037/0735-7044.117.6.1363)
- Jenkins, T. A., Amin, E., Harold, G. T., Pearce, J. M. and Aggleton, J. P. 2003. Distinct patterns of hippocampal formation activity associated with different spatial tasks: a Fos imaging study in rats. Experimental Brain Research 151(4), pp. 514-523. (10.1007/s00221-003-1499-0)
2002
- Pearce, J. M. and George, D. N. 2002. The effects of using stimuli from three different dimensions on autoshaping with a complex negative patterning discrimination. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 55(4), pp. 349-364. (10.1080/02724990244000061)
- Williams, D. A., Mehta, R., Poworoznyk, T. M., Orihel, J. S., George, D. N. and Pearce, J. M. 2002. Acquisition of superexcitatory properties by and irrelvant background stimulus. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 28(3), pp. 284-297. (10.1037/0097-7403.28.3.284)
- Pearce, J. M. 2002. Evaluation and development of a connectionist theory of configural learning. Animal Learning & Behaviour 30(2), pp. 73-95. (10.3758/BF03192911)
- Pearce, J. M., Redhead, E. S. and George, D. N. 2002. Summation in autoshaping is affected by the similarity of the visual stimuli to the stimulation they replace.. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 28(2), pp. 175-189. (10.1037/0097-7403.28.2.175)
- Pearce, J. M., George, D. N. and Aydin, A. 2002. Summation: further assessment of a configural theory. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 55(1), pp. 61-73. (10.1080/02724990143000171)
- Aggleton, J. P. and Pearce, J. M. 2002. Neural systems underlying episodic memory: insights from animal research. In: Baddeley, A., Aggleton, J. P. and Conway, M. eds. Episodic Memory: New Directions in Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 204-231., (10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198508809.003.0012)
2001
- Redhead, E. S., Prados, J. and Pearce, J. M. 2001. The effects of pre-exposure on escape from a Morris pool. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 54(4), pp. 353-367. (10.1080/713932764)
- Pearce, J. M., Ward-Robinson, J., Good, M. A., Fussell, C. J. and Aydin, A. 2001. Influence of a beacon on spatial learning based on the shape of the test environment. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 27(4), pp. 329-344. (10.1037/0097-7403.27.4.329)
- George, D. N., Ward-Robinson, J. and Pearce, J. M. 2001. Discrimination of structure: I. Implications for connectionist theories of discrimination learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 27(3), pp. 206-218. (10.1037/0097-7403.27.3.206)
- Pearce, J. M. and Bouton, M. E. 2001. Theories of associative learning in animals. Annual Review of Psychology 52, pp. 111-139. (10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.111)
- Aggleton, J. P. and Pearce, J. M. 2001. Neural systems underlying episodic memory: insights from animal research. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B - Biological Sciences 356(1413), pp. 1467-1482. (10.1098/rstb.2001.0946)
2000
- Pearce, J. M., Roberts, A. D. L., Redhead, E. S. and Prados, J. 2000. The influence of passive preexposure on escape from a Morris pool. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 26(2), pp. 186-195. (10.1037/0097-7403.26.2.186)
- Bussey, T. J., Dias, R., Redhead, E. S., Pearce, J. M., Muir, J. L. and Aggleton, J. P. 2000. Intact negative patterning in rats with fornix or combined perirhinal and postrhinal cortex lesions. Experimental Brain Research 134(4), pp. 506-519. (10.1007/s002210000481)
1999
- Pearce, J. M. and Redhead, E. S. 1999. Enhanced Pavlovian conditioning with a change in appetitive reinforcer. Animal Learning & Behaviour 27(4), pp. 369-378. (10.3758/BF03209974)
- Prados, J., Redhead, E. S. and Pearce, J. M. 1999. Active preexposure enhances attention to the landmarks surrounding a Morris swimming pool. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 25(4), pp. 451-460. (10.1037/0097-7403.25.4.451)
- George, D. N. and Pearce, J. M. 1999. Acquired distinctiveness is controlled by stimulus relevance not correlation with reward. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 25(3), pp. 363-373. (10.1037/0097-7403.25.3.363)
- Roberts, A. D. L. and Pearce, J. M. 1999. Blocking in the Morris swimming pool. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 25(2), pp. 225-235. (10.1037/0097-7403.25.2.225)
- Pearce, J. M., George, D. N., Redhead, E. S., Aydin, A. and Wynne, C. 1999. The influence of background stimuli on summation in autoshaping. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 52(1), pp. 53-74. (10.1080/713932690)
1998
- Pearce, J. M., Roberts, A. D. L. and Good, M. A. 1998. Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on cognitive maps but not heading vectors. Nature 396(6706), pp. 75-77. (10.1038/23941)
- Roberts, A. D. L. and Pearce, J. M. 1998. Control of spatial behavior by an unstable landmark. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 24(2), pp. 172-184. (10.1037/0097-7403.24.2.172)
- Redhead, E. S. and Pearce, J. M. 1998. Some factors that determine the influence of a stimulus that is irrelevant to a discrimination. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 24(2), pp. 123-135. (10.1037/0097-7403.24.2.123)
- Pearce, J. M., George, D. N. and Redhead, E. S. 1998. The role of attention in the solution of conditional discriminations. In: Schmajuk, N. and Holland, P. C. eds. Occasion setting: associative learning and cognition in animals. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, pp. 249-275., (10.1037/10298-009)
1997
- Redhead, E. S., Roberts, A., Good, M. A. and Pearce, J. M. 1997. Interaction between piloting and beacon homing by rats in a swimming pool. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 23(3), pp. 340-350. (10.1037/0097-7403.23.3.340)
- Aydin, A. and Pearce, J. M. 1997. Some determinants of response summation. Animal Learning & Behaviour 25(1), pp. 108-121. (10.3758/BF03199029)
- Pearce, J. M., Aydin, A. and Redhead, E. S. 1997. Configural analysis of summation in autoshaping. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 23(1), pp. 84-94. (10.1037/0097-7403.23.1.84)
- Darby, R. J. and Pearce, J. M. 1997. The effect of stimulus preexposure on responding during a compound stimulus. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 50(3), pp. 203-216. (10.1080/713932653)
- Pearce, J., Redhead, E. S. and Aydin, A. 1997. Partial reinforcement in appetitive Pavlovian conditioning with rats. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 50(4), pp. 273-294. (10.1080/713932660)
- Pearce, J. M. 1997. Animal learning and cognition: An introduction. 2nd ed.. Hove: Psychology Press.
1996
- Lister, S., Pearce, J. M., Butcher, S. P., Collard, K. J. and Foster, G. A. 1996. Acquisition of conditioned inhibition in rats is impaired by ablation of serotoninergic pathways. European Journal of Neuroscience 8(2), pp. 415-423. (10.1111/j.1460-9568.1996.tb01224.x)
1995
- Aydin, A. and Pearce, J. M. 1995. Summation in autoshaping with short- and long-duration stimuli. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 48(3), pp. 215-234. (10.1080/14640749508401449)
- Pearce, J. M. and Redhead, E. S. 1995. Supernormal conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 21(2), pp. 155-165. (10.1037/0097-7403.21.2.155)
- Darby, R. J. and Pearce, J. M. 1995. Effects of context on responding during a compound stimulus. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes 21(2), pp. 143-154. (10.1037/0097-7403.21.2.143)
- Redhead, E. S. and Pearce, J. M. 1995. Stimulus salience and negative patterning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 48(1), pp. 67-83. (10.1080/14640749508401437)
- Redhead, E. S. and Pearce, J. M. 1995. Similarity and discrimination learning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology 48(1), pp. 46-66. (10.1080/14640749508401436)
1994
- Pearce, J. M. 1994. Discrimination and categorisation. In: Mackintosh, N. J. ed. Handbook of Perception and Cognition: Volume 9: Animal Learning and Cognition. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 110-134.
Research topics and related papers
A significant proportion of my current research is based on a novel technique I have developed to study the changes in attention that take place during learning. This technique has allowed me to demonstrate that during the course of a discrimination animals come to pay more attention to the stimuli that signal both the presence and the absence of reward, than to those that are irrelevant. These changes in attention take place to individual stimuli, and not to whole dimensions of stimuli. Other studies have shown that animals pay more attention to stimuli that are unreliable, rather than reliable predictors of important events such as food. I am currently developing a theory which describes the circumstances in which these, and other, changes in attention take place.
Another aim of my research is to understand the role that configural information contributes to associative learning. I have argued that when a pattern of stimulation signals a biologically important event, then a representation consisting of all the features of that pattern enters into an association with that even. Experiments are currently exploring the implications of this proposal for our understanding of how simple discriminations are solved.
The third research topic involves the spatial learning that takes place when an animal must find a hidden goal in an arena with a distinctive shape, such as a rectangle. One set of studies has identified the information about the rectangle that is used to find the goal. Rather than locate the goal by referring to the overall shape of the environment, animals use more local information such as “search at the left-hand end of a long wall”. Another set of studies has explored whether the principles of associative learning derived in the conditioning chamber extend to spatial learning in distinctively shaped environments. On the whole, the principles transfer remarkably well between these two very different test contexts. The final line of research is concerned with identifying a formal rule which describes how an animal decides to search for a goal in one location rather than another.
Funding
BBSRC, project grant (2010-2012 , £459,737): Attention and predictive learning. Pearce, J. M., and k Good, M.
Australian Research Council, project grant (2009-2011, Australian $169,000): Learning and deciding under low levels of awareness: Representation issues and memory processes. Humphreys, M., Tangen, J., Cornwall, T. B., Vokey, J,., and Pearce, J. M.
Wellcome Trust, programme grant (2009-2014, £1,569,168): Interleaving brain mechanisms for recognition and episodic memory. Aggleton, J. P. Bashir, Z. I., Brown, M. W., Pearce, J. M., Warburton, C.E.
Research group
Jemma Dopson, Postdoctoral Fellow (attention and associative learning)
Murray Horne, Postdoctoral Fellow (spatial learning)
Supervision
Postgraduate research interests
My research is directed at the study of animal learning and cognition. I am particularly interested in enhancing our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of associative learning. To this end, my research has focussed on discrimination learning and categorisation. I am investigating the role of attentional processes in this type of learning, and the role that configural information plays when discrimination involves complex patterns of stimulation. Many of my findings point to a similarity between the basic mechanisms of learning in animals and humans. Another line of research is concerned with how animals are able to navigate towards a hidden goal by reference to landmarks that lie some distance from it. Some of my studies are exploring the extent to which such spatial learning can be explained by the principles that apply to discrimination learning. Other studies are investigating the contribution made by different neural structures to navigation.
If you are interested in applying for a PhD, or for further information regarding my postgraduate research, please contact me directly (contact details available on the 'Overview' page), or submit a formal application.
Current students
Kerry Gilroy, Research Assistant (attention and associative learning)
Natalie Williams, Research Student (attention and associative learning)
Past projects
Previous students
H. Kaye (1983). The effects of Pavlovian conditioning on the orienting response in rats.
D. Young (1984). The role of generalisation decrement in Pavlovian conditioning.
L. Collins (1984). The influence of partial reinforcement on serial autoshaping with pigeons.
J. Swan (1987). The role of predictive accuracy in Pavlovian conditioning.
R. Ramachandran (1987). A Pavlovian analysis of the interaction between hunger and thirst.
S. Lister (1994). The effects of 5,7-dihodroxytryptamine on discrimination learning in rats.
A. Aydin (1995). Response summation.
R. Darby (1995). Fundamental units of association: Elemental or configural?
D. George (1997). Acquired distinctiveness.
A. Roberts (1999). A study of spatial learning.
M. Haselgrove (2002). Timing and extinction.
P. Jones (2005). The role of the hippocampus in spatial navigation by the rat.
G Ramos-Esber (2008). Mechanisms responsible for cue-competition effects.
A. Hayward (2008). A study of spatial learning based on the shape of the environment.
R. Mui (2008). Evaluation of a theory of imitation.
M. Horne (2009). An associative analysis of spatial learning in environments with a distinctive shape.
J. Dopson (2009). The fate of irrelevant stimuli in Pavlovian conditioning.