The Center
For
Cognitive Science
Cognitive Science Colloquium
Wednesday, 9 February 2011, 2:00 P.M.
280 Park Hall
Eduardo Mercado
UB Department of Psychology & Center for Cognitive Science
Mapping Individual Variations in Learning Capacity
Individual differences in learning capacity are evident in humans and most other animals. Traditionally, such
differences are described in terms of variations along a relatively small number of psychological dimensions
corresponding to behavioral traits. Here, an alternative approach is considered in which individual differences in
learning capacity are characterized by spatially sorting behavioral patterns. To illustrate this approach, a twodimensional, self-organizing, feature map was used to analyze patterns in the performances of intact and corticallylesioned rats engaged in multiple learning tasks. After training, the spatial structure of the map revealed systematic
variations in learning across rats that were related to the degree of brain damage. Individual nodes within the map
described prototypical performance profiles that corresponded closely to patterns of learning seen in individual rats,
including individuals with idiosyncratic profiles. Techniques that automatically identify modal patterns of
performance during learning may provide new insights into the processes that determine what an individual
organism can learn.
Mercado, Eduardo, III (2011), "Mapping Individual Variations in Learning Capacity", International Journal of
Comparative Psychology 24: 4–35.