20 retarded subjects received 50 trials of nondifferential reinforcement in the presence of cues on the dimension of shape and subsequently learned either a shape discrimination with color irrelevant or a color discrimination with shape irrelevant. 20 control subjects simply learned the shape or color discrimination. Nondifferential reinforcement significantly facilitated learning of the color discrimination and only tended to nonsignificantly hinder learning of the shape discrimination. Results were discussed in terms of Mackintosh's attentional theory of discrimination learning.
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