title: Selectivity in associative learning: a cognitive stage framework for blocking and cue competition phenomena.
abstract: BLOCKING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PHENOMENON IN THE HISTORY OF ASSOCIATIVE LEARNING THEORY: for over 40 years, blocking has inspired a whole generation of learning models. Blocking is part of a family of effects that are typically termed "cue competition" effects. Common amongst all cue competition effects is that a cue-outcome relation is poorly learned or poorly expressed because the cue is trained in the presence of an alternative predictor or cause of the outcome. We provide an overview of the cognitive processes involved in cue competition effects in humans and propose a stage framework that brings these processes together. The framework contends that the behavioral display of cue competition is cognitively construed following three stages that include (1) an encoding stage, (2) a retention stage, and (3) a performance stage. We argue that the stage framework supports a comprehensive understanding of cue competition effects.
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven Belgium.
authors.forename: Yannick
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Boddez
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven Belgium.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Haesen
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven Belgium.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baeyens
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Leuven Belgium ; University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Netherlands.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beckers
keywords: associative learning; blocking; conditioning; cue competition; learning theory; prediction error; stimulus competition