Abstract
On the basis of Landahl's theory of two-choice learning it is shown that application of punishment for wrong responses, without giving award for correct ones, does not lead to complete learning, no matter how many trials are used. If initially a “wrong response” was learned, then an attempt to inhibit it by punishment alone will in a class of cases lead only to a 50% suppression of that wrong response. Possible connection with the problem of effectiveness of punishment as a deterrent for crime is mentioned.
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Literature
Landahl, H. D. 1941. “Studies in the Mathematical Biophysics of Discrimination and Conditioning I.”Bull. Math. Biophysics,3, 13–26.
Rapoport, A. 1965. “A Note on Equivalent Mathematical Models.”Ibid., Special Issue,27, 161–175.
Rashevsky, N. 1960.Mathematical Biophysics, Vol. II Chapter XIV. Third Edition. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
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Rashevsky, N. Reward and punishment in learning with possible reference to punishment for crime. Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics 28, 477–481 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476827
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02476827