Spatial Pattern Learning and Transposition

Spatial pattern learning is the control of spatial choice by abstracted spatial relationships among otherwise hidden goal locations (Brown & Terrinoni, 1996; Brown, 2006). It requires discriminative responding to stimulus elements depending on the presence of other stimulus elements with different values (locations) but of the same type. The control by relations among stimuli at the core of spatial pattern learning is reminiscent of transposition (Kohler, 1918; Riley, 1968). Using data from spatial pattern learning experiments with rats and humans, some empirical and conceptual similarities of spatial pattern learning and transposition will be described and examined, with an eye toward exploring the possibility that common mechanisms may be involved in the two phenomena.