Learned associability and associative change in human causal learning.
The Mackintosh (1975) model of associative learning specifies that processing of both the cues presented on a trial and the outcome of that trial will interact to determine the amount of associative change undergone by a given cue. Experiments looking at the distribution of associative change among the elements of a reinforced compound in animal conditioning studies indicate that processing of the outcome of a trial does indeed influence associative change. The work reported here investigates the distribution of associative change among the elements of a reinforced compound in a human causal judgement paradigm, and it indicates that processing of the cues presented on a trial also plays a role in determining associative change (in terms of changes in the associability of cues as a result of experience). Taken in combination, these results provide good support for Mackintosh (1975) and the characterizations of both cue and outcome processing that it offers.
Le Pelley
M E
ME
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. mel22@cam.ac.uk
McLaren
I P L
IP
D000328:Adult; D001245:Association Learning; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011897:Random Allocation