Conditioning, attention, and the CS-US interval. A theoretical statement of relations.
A revised version of the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) mathematical model is presented. A metatheoretical assumption of an attentional process, the added revision, is conceived as an independent alpha-salience growth factor determining both rate of association and performance. Conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-US) correlation, and CS-US interval (two primary conditioning parameters) are incorporated in the mathematical model as alpha-salience growth rate and as alpha-salience and association asymptote factors, respectively. In this manner, the long-standing issue of necessary and sufficient factors in classical conditioning is resolved. An empirical assessment of the model's parameters has been included.
D001244:Association; D001288:Attention; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008433:Mathematics; D008960:Models, Psychological