Simulatie van Leerprocessen: geprogrammeerde experimenten; een experimenteel programma

Human verbal learning is considered as an interaction between two information‐processing systems (e.g. the teacher and his pupil) by which one or both are modified. We discussed the possibilities of using a computer program to define one of these systems, which is then simulated by the computer with a human subject as the other system. The problems in writing such a program stem from the lack of an adequate and precise psychological theory of human learning and from the complexity and uniqueness of the verbal repertoire with which a subject enters the situation. A program is presented which establishes a behavior pattern in the subject by using only stimuli which are meaningless to him at the beginning of the interaction; he might e.g. label any stimulus or any response “right” or “wrong” if he felt like doing so. The responses were given by means of 16 on‐off switches, the stimuli consisted of light patterns in 27 lamps. The patterns were contingent on the foregoing stimulus response sequence and they were generated by the computer. The meaning of the program (unknown to the subject) was to teach operations of binary arithmetic. The only instruction given was that the program simulated a first contact by radio with inhabitants of another planet. The introspection protocols revealed that the subjects could remain ignorant of the real purpose of the program and attach quite a different meaning to their interaction with the computer, even in cases where the intended behavior‐pattern was successfully taught. In conclusion the method of studying human behavior by modifying the program governing the computer which interacts with the subject is discussed in relation to a more static and statistical approach.