All-or-none-acquisition in matching-to-sample and a test of two models.

Pigeons learned a color matching-to-sample task. The researcher tracked each bird trial-by-trial to see if learning grew slowly or popped in all at once.

The goal was to test two rival ideas: gradual strengthening versus sudden insight.

Performance jumped from near zero to almost perfect in one block of trials. The data fit Bower’s all-or-none model better than smooth-curve models.

In plain words, the birds looked clueless, then suddenly looked like experts.

Cohen (1969) showed pigeons could master matching years earlier, so the task itself was already known to be learnable.

Catania et al. (1972) seems to clash: they saw negative transfer when training left out one stimulus arrangement. The difference is training set size; limited sets can create position habits that mask the sudden insight seen here.

Robinson et al. (1974) ran a near twin study the same year. They found color matching transferred only a little to new shapes, reminding us that the sudden learning is stimulus-specific.

Later work like Howard (1979) and Sprague et al. (1984) added new stimuli or rules and still saw quick re-learning, showing the all-or-none jump can repeat when conditions change.

If you teach a child to match red to red, don’t expect slow steady gains. Watch for a sudden leap and be ready to add new stimuli right after the jump. Train each set fully; partial sets can create bad habits. Expect quick re-learning when you swap stimuli later.