Psych Professor Aims to Shake Up Learning Theories

JENNIFER McMANAMAY
College relations staff writer

Assistant professor of psychology Daniel Gottlieb’s paper, “Is Number of Trials a Primary Determinant of Conditioned Responding?” will be published in the January 2008 edition of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes.

The paper represents findings from a series of experiments Gottlieb conducted primarily at Rutgers University, where he was a postdoctoral associate and instructor. Since his arrival at Sweet Briar in 2006, he has continued his research on learning theories using rats in the laboratory. He is working under a $25,000 Jeffress grant and is awaiting word on a $10,000 renewal for 2007-08.

Working in the general field of Pavlovian conditioning, Gottlieb hopes to challenge longstanding theories of how learning occurs. “Our theories of learning, of which there are dozens, are almost universally based on the trial being the unit of importance in learning,” he said.

The assumption is that the number of times you pair the stimulus with the outcome is the primary determinant of learning, Gottlieb said. But he has amassed a “good amount of data” that suggests the number of trials isn’t nearly as important as at least two other factors: The total training time, or how long the animals are in the learning situation, and the number of distinct training sessions — as opposed to the number of trials within a training session.

Describing his findings thus far as “interesting,” Gottlieb views his work in light of more than 100 years of study is his area of psychology. He’s not suggesting it turns the field on its head. He is willing to say that his research “calls into question whether the theoretical framework that we’re using really is the most appropriate.”

Like those before him, Gottlieb is interested in unlocking the mind’s mysteries, although theoretical researchers can’t say where their findings will lead science, he says.

“Psychology will always be interested in treating mental problems, but I think it will also become more influential in guiding social and political attitudes, advancing technology, and informing individual quests for self-improvement,” he wrote in an e-mail.

“For this to be the case, we must have a proper understanding of the foundations of the mind. In my own little world, this means understanding the accumulation and expression of knowledge.”