W. K. Estes and Mathematical Psychology
Mathematical psychologists are in short supply today (Clay, 2005), but those who remain along with their professional organizations and journals are “keepers of the flame” (Townsend, 2008, p. 275) for the long association between mathematics and psychology. Today’s mathematical psychologists apply their expertise to theorizing and the proper collection of data. Townsend cited signal detection theory, mathematical learning theory, scaling, decision theory, psychophysics, and neural modeling as active areas today related to mathematical psychology. He also noted that “the central advantage psychology has had over other fields in past years has been the relatively heavy component of education in practical statistics and methodology” (p. 276). The original vision of the importance of mathematics has been expanded in modern psychology, but there is concern that fewer new students are choosing to become mathematical psychologists. (from my History of Psychology text.)This tribute was printed in the APS Observer following Estes's death at age 92 in 2011. Many of this former students and colleagues recalled episodes from their interactions with Estes.
It covered Estes's personal and professional life. It noted that he and Skinner pioneered a conditioned emotional response paradigm while Nazi V-1 rockets were falling on London. When the V-1 engines ran out of fuel, the rocket's sound ceased. Listeners then stopped doing whatever they were doing to listen for an explosion.
Estes's assumption was that stimuli were not as simple as other psychologists had proposed. So, the "yellow light" example in the text for this course is more than just a yellow light. Estes proposed the light was part of a much larger stimulus complex. Estes's theory helped explain why learned responses were not always given. He introduced an element of randomness into the study of learning.
Like Hull, Estes wished to mathematize the study of learning.
Wikipedia entry describes the history of mathematical psychology and its applications. We'll examine some of those applications later in this course including the Rescorla-Wagner model describing classical conditioning. The goal of many mathematical psychologists such as Estes was to provide a more solid foundation for psychological research in learning, memory, perception, psychophysics, decision making, language, thinking, and the better uses of measurement.
Harvard Gazette on W. K. Estes
Reviews Estes's life and work. At Harvard he lived in William James's old house. Estes was introverted and, famously, took a long time to answer questions. During his life, Estes received honors from many psychological and other national groups. The citation from his National Medal of Science read:
“For fundamental theories of cognition and learning that transformed the field of experimental psychology and led to the development of quantitative cognitive science. His pioneering methods of quantitative modeling and an insistence on rigor and precision established the standard for modern psychological science.”
Weibell, C. J. (2011).Principles of learning: 7 principles to guide personalized, student-centered learning in the technology-enhanced, blended learning environment. Retrieved July 4, 2011 from [https://principlesoflearning.wordpress.com].
Estes's stimulus sampling theory was an extension of Hull's mathematical approach to learning. Estes's method was probabilistic and learning happened as the probability of making a particular reponse increased. For example, in a T-maze a rat's initial probability of selecting the left side is 50%. But, after discovering that the left side contained the food reward, the probability of turning left increased dramatically (e.g., a learning curve) until it approached 100%.
Estes redefined the S-R paradigm by making both elements broader. Responses could be categorized as classes or occurences. The class of bar press, for example, was far more complex to Estes than it was to other theorists. Estes might differentiate bar presses by a rat made with either forepaw or with other parts of the body." One of my grad school friends conditioned a rat once who learned to fall on the bar backwards with his head. Apparently, the particular learning trial in which that rat "learned" was the one after he stood, slipped, and fell on the bar.