An attempt to replicate action-effect learning and its generalization without stimulus-stimulus learning
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21532886 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Alina Ahrens (0009-0007-1219-9845, Hochschule Bremen, corresponding author), Heinrich R Liesefeld (0000-0003-4551-8607, University of Bremen), Jule Kinner (University of Bremen), Markus Janczyk (0000-0002-9958-3220, University of Bremen) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 90 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Psychological Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0340-0727 • E-ISSN: 1430-2772 |
| Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1007/s00426-026-02268-8 |
| PMID | 42080973 |
| OpenAlex | W7160045608 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 35 |
In everyday life, we often generalize previously learned associations between our actions and their outcomes to novel, but similar situations. The present study aimed to conceptually and directly replicate results reported by Esser et al. (Psychological Research, 87(7), 2249–2258 2023), who reported that action–effect (A–E) learning generalizes to categorically similar stimuli. Yet, the overall picture in the published literature is not overwhelming with regard to such generalization, and hence a replication seems to be of particular importance. We present three experiments. In our conceptual replications (Experiment 1 and 2), we did not find evidence for A–E compatibility effects for either learned or similar stimuli. In the direct replication (Experiment 3), we observed evidence for successful A–E learning, but still failed to replicate generalization to similar stimuli. A critical difference between Experiments 1 and 2 and Experiment 3, however, is that stimulus-stimulus (S-S) learning was not possible in the former two experiments, but in the latter one (as was already acknowledged by Esser et al.). In sum, our results (1) suggest a critical role of S-S learning in this particular design (2) and question whether A–E learning truly generalizes to similar stimuli
Generalization · Replicate · Behavioral and Psychological Studies · Child and Animal Learning Development · Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |