Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:17:38.314Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Associative Relationships in Human Predictive Learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2013

A. Matías Gámez ,
Rafael Martos ,
María J.F. Abad  and
Juan M. Rosas
A. Matías Gámez*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Jaén (Spain)
Rafael Martos
Affiliation:
Universidad de Jaén (Spain)
María J.F. Abad
Affiliation:
Universidad de Jaén (Spain)
Juan M. Rosas
Affiliation:
Universidad de Jaén (Spain)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to A. Matías Gámez. Departamento de Psicología, Universidad de Jaén. 23071 Jaén (Spain). E-mail: mgmartin@ujaen.es
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to explore the associations involved in human predictive learning. Experiment 1 found that post-training devaluation of one of the outcomes by instructing participants that one of the attackers was indestructible, led to a significant decrease in participants’ predictive responses to the cue that was initially followed by the devalued outcome, suggesting that cue-outcome associations play a major role in human simple predictive learning. In Experiment 2, immediately after receiving cue-outcome predictive judgment training, participants were instructed to destroy the attackers by using the same responses previously used to give predictive judgments, but they were not informed as to which response should be used on each attacker. During a test in which both attackers were present at the same time, when the cue was present, participants preferentially chose the instrumental response alternative that was previously used as a predictive judgment about the relationship between the present cue and its outcome. In the absence of cues, participants equally chose either response alternative. This transfer of control shows that participants also establish judgment-outcome associations during predictive training.

Keywords

predictive learningcontents of learninghuman learningoutcome devaluationtransfer procedure
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 16 , 2013 , E5
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

We deeply thank C. Paredes-Olay for her assistance running the experiments, and her valuable comments to a previous version of this paper. We also thank James B. Nelson for his comments and assistance on preparing the final version of this paper. This research was financially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Research Grant PSI2010-15215.

References

Catena, A., Maldonado, A., & Cándido, A. (1998). The effect of the frequency of judgment and the type of trial on covariation learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24, 481–495. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0096-1523.24.2.481 Google Scholar
Catena, A, Maldonado, A., Megías, J. L., & Frese, B. (2002). Judgement frequency, belief revision, and serial processing of causal information. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 55, 267–281. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724990244000007 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chapman, G. B. (1991). Trial order affects cue interaction in contingency judgment . Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition , 17, 837–854. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0278-7393.17.5.837 Google ScholarPubMed
Cheng, P. W. (1997). From covariation to causation: A causal power theory. Psychological Review, 104, 367–405. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0033-295X.104.2.367 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, P. W., & Novic, L. R. (1990). A probabilistic contrast model of causal induction. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 58, 545–567. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.58.4.545 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cobos, P. L., López, F. J., Caño, A., Almaraz, J., & Shanks, D. R. (2002). Mechanisms of predictive and diagnostic causal induction. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 28, 331–346. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0097-7403.28.4.331 Google ScholarPubMed
Cobos, P. L., Caño, A., López, F. J., Luque, J. L., & Almaraz, J. (2000). Does the type of judgement required modulate cue competition? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 53, 193–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/027249900411146 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Colwill, R. M. (1994). Associative representations of instrumental contingencies. The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 31, 1–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0079-7421(0860408-9) CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colwill, R. M., & Motzkin, D. K. (1994). Encoding of the unconditioned stimulus in Pavlovian conditioning. Animal Learning & Behavior, 22, 384–394. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03209158 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colwill, R. M., & Rescorla, R. A. (1985). Postconditioning devaluation of a reinforcer affects instrumental responding. Journal Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 11, 120–132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.11.1.120 Google Scholar
Colwill, R. M., & Rescorla, R. A. (1986). Associative structures in instrumental learning. In Bower, G. H. (Ed.), Psychology of learning and motivation (pp. 55–104). Orlando, FL: Academic Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0079-7421(08)60016-X Google Scholar
Colwill, R. M., & Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Associations between the discriminative stimulus and the reinforcer in instrumental learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 14, 155–164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.14.2.155 Google Scholar
Colwill, R. M., & Rescorla, R. A. (1990a). Effect of reinforcer devaluation on discriminative control of instrumental behavior. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 16, 40–47. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.16.1.40 Google ScholarPubMed
Colwill, R. M., & Rescorla, R. A. (1990b). Evidence for the hierarchical structure of instrumental learning. Animal Learning and Behavior, 18, 71–82. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03205241 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Houwer, J. (2009). The propositional approach to associative learning as an alternative for association formation models. Learning & Behavior, 37, 1–20. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/LB.37.1.1 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Houwer, J., Beckers, T., & Vandorpe, S. (2005). Evidence for the role of higher order reasoning processes in cue competition and other learning phenomena. Learning & Behavior, 33, 239–249. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03196066 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delamater, A. R. (1996). Effects of several extinction treatments upon the integrity of Pavlovian stimulus-outcome associations. Animal Learning & Behavior, 24, 437–449. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03199015 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delamater, A. R., & Lolordo, V. M. (1991). Event revaluation procedures and associative structures in Pavlovian conditioning. In Dachowski, L. & Flaherty, C. (Eds.), Current topics in animallearning: Brain, emotion, and cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Denniston, J. C., Savastano, H. I., & Miller, R. R. (2001). The extended comparator hypothesis: Learning by contiguity, responding by relative strength. In Mowrer, R. R. & Klein, S. B. (Eds.), Handbook of contemporary learning theories (pp. 65–117). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Dickinson, A., Shanks, D., & Evenden, J. (1984). Judgement of act-outcome contingency: The role of selective attribution. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A: Human Experimental Psychology, 36, 29–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14640748408401502 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dudley, T. R. (1999). The effect of superstitious belief on performance following an unsolvable problem. Personality & Individual Differences, 26, 1057–1064. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(98)00209-8 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gámez, A. M., & Rosas, J. M. (2005). Transfer of stimulus control across instrumental responses is attenuated by extinction in human instrumental conditioning. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 5, 265–308.Google Scholar
Gámez, A. M., & Rosas, J. M. (2007). Associations in human instrumental conditioning. Learning and Motivation. 38, 242–261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lmot.2006.11.001 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
García-Gutiérrez, A., & Rosas, J. M. (2003). The role of the number of cues on retroactive interference in human predictive learning. Psicológica, 24, 271–287.Google Scholar
Grillon, C., & Ameli, R. (2001). Conditioned inhibition of fear-potentiated startle and skin conductance in humans. Psychophysiology, 38, 807–815. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0048577201000294 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hermans, D., Dirikx, T., Vansteenwegenin, D., Baeyens, F., Van Den Bergh, O., & Eelen, P. (2005). Reinstatement of fear responses in human aversive conditioning. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 533–551. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2004.03.013 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hinchy, J., Lovibond, P. F., & Ter-Horst, K. M. (1995). Blocking in human electrodermal conditioning. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 48, 2–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14640749508401433 Google ScholarPubMed
Holland, P. C. (1983). “Occasion-setting” in Pavlovian feature positive discriminations. In Commons, M. L., Herrnstein, R. J., & Wagner, A. R. (Eds.), Quantitative analyses of behavior: Volume 4. Discrimination processes (pp. 183–206). Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.Google Scholar
Holland, P. C. (1984). Differential effects of reinforcement of an inhibitory feature after serial and simultaneous feature negative discrimination training. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 10, 461–475. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0097-7403.10.4.461 Google ScholarPubMed
Holland, P. C. (2004). Relations between Pavlovian-Instrumental transfer and reinforce devaluation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 30, 104–117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.30.2.104 Google ScholarPubMed
Holland, P. C., & Rescorla, R. A. (1975). The effect of two ways of devaluing the unconditioned stimulus after first- and second-order appetitive conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 1, 355–363. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.1.4.355 Google Scholar
Hull, C. L. (1930). Knowledge and purpose as habit mechanism. Psychological Review, 37, 511–525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0072212 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hull, C. L. (1931). Goal attraction and directing ideas conceived as habit phenomena. Psychological Review, 38, 487–506. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0071442 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruse, J. M., Overmier, J. B., Konz, W. A., & Rokke, E. (1983). Pavlovian conditioned stimulis effects upon instrumental choice behavior are reinforcer specific. Learning & Motivation, 14, 165–181. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0023-9690(83)90004-8 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lovibond, P. F. (2003). Causal beliefs and conditioned responses: Retrospective revaluation induced by experience and by instruction. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition, 29, 97–106. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0278-7393.29.1.97 Google ScholarPubMed
Mackintosh, N. (1975). A theory of attention: Variations in the associability of stimuli with reinforcement. Psychological Review, 82, 276–298. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0076778 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maldonado, A., Catena, A., Cándido, A., & García, I. (1999). The belief revision model: Asymmetrical effects of noncontingency on human covariation learning. Animal Learning & Behavior, 27, 168–180. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03199673 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, I., & Levey, A. B. (1991). Blocking observed in human eyelid conditioning. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 26, 127–131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02691035 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matute, H. (1994). Learned helplessness and superstitious behavior as opposite effects of uncontrollable reinforcement in humans. Learning and Motivation, 25, 216–232. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/lmot.1994.1012 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, C. J., De Houwer, J., & Lovibond, P. F. (2009). The propositional nature of human associative learning. Behavioral & Brain Sciences, 32, 183–198. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X09000855 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ono, K. (1987). Superstitious behavior in humans. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 47, 261–271. http://dx.doi.org/10.1901/jeab.1987.47-261 Google ScholarPubMed
Paredes-Olay, C., Abad, M. , J. F., Gámez, M., & Rosas, J. M. (2002). Transfer of control between causal predictive judgments and instrumental responding. Animal Learning & Behavior, 30, 239–248. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03192833 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pearce, J. M. (1987). A model for stimulus generalization in Pavlovian conditioning. Psychological Review, 94, 61–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.94.1.61 Google Scholar
Pearce, J. M., & Hall, G. (1980). A model for Pavlovian learning: Variations in the effectiveness of conditioned but not of unconditioned stimuli. Psychological Review, 87, 532–552. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0033-295X.87.6.532 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perales, J. C., Catena, A., & Maldonado, A. (2002). Aprendizaje de relaciones de contingencia y causalidad: Hacia un análisis integral del aprendizaje causal desde una perspectiva computacional [Learning of causal and contingency relationships: Towards a comprehensive analysis of causal learning from a computational approach]. Cognitiva, 14, 15–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1174/021435502753511204 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perruchet, P. (1985). Expectancy for airpuff and conditioned eyeblinks in humans. Acta Psychologica, 58, 31–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0001-6918(85)90032-0 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pineño, O., & Matute, H. (2000). Interference in human predictive learning when associations share a common element. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 13, 16–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramos-Álvarez, M. M., & Catena, A. (2005). The dissociation between the recall of stimulus frequencies and the judgment of contingency allows the placement of the competition effect in the final causal processing stages. Psicológica, 26, 293–303.Google Scholar
Rescorla, R. A. (1973). Effect of US habituation following conditioning. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 82, 137–143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0033815 Google ScholarPubMed
Rescorla, R. A. (1985). Conditioned inhibition and facilitation. In Miller, R. R. & Spear, N. S. (Eds.), Information processing in animals: Conditioned inhibition (pp. 299–326). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Rescorla, R. A. (1990). Instrumental responses become associated with reinforcers that differ in one feature. Animal Learning & Behavior, 18, 206–211. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03205260 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rescorla, R. A. (1991). Associations of multiple outcomes with an instrumental response. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 17, 465–474. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.17.4.465 Google Scholar
Rescorla, R. A. (1992a). Associations between an instrumental discriminative stimulus and multiple outcomes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 18, 95–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.18.1.95 Google Scholar
Rescorla, R. A. (1992b). Depression of an instrumental response by a single devaluation of its outcome. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 44, 123–136. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724999208250606 Google ScholarPubMed
Rescorla, R. A. (1993). Preservation of response-outcome associations through extinction. Animal Learning & Behavior, 21, 238–245. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03197988 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rescorla, R. A. (1994). Control of instrumental performance by Pavlovian and instrumental stimuli. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 20, 44–50. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0097-7403.20.1.44 Google ScholarPubMed
Rescorla, R. A. (1996). Response-outcome associations remain functional through interference treatments. Animal Learning & Behavior, 24, 450–458. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03199016 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rescorla, R. A. (2000). Associative changes with a random CS-US relationship. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section B: Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 53, 325–340. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/027249900750001338 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rescorla, R. A., & Wagner, A. R. (1972). A theory of Pavlovian conditioning: Variations in the effectiveness of reinforcement and nonreinforcement. In Black, A. H. & Prokasy, W. F. (Eds.), Classical conditioning II: Current research and theory (pp. 64–99). New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Rosas, J. M., & Callejas-Aguilera, J. E. (2006). Context switch effects on acquisition and extinction in human predictive learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32, 461–474. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.32.3.461 Google ScholarPubMed
Rosas, J. M., Paredes-Olay, M. C., García-Gutiérrez, A., Espinosa, J., & Abad, M. J. F. (2010). Outcome-specific transfer between predictive and instrumental learning is unaffected by extinction but reversed by counterconditioning in human participants. Learning and Motivation, 41, 48–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lmot.2009.09.002 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shipley, B. E., & Colwill, R. M. (1996). Direct effects on instrumental performance of outcome revaluation by drive shifts. Animal Learning and Behavior, 24, 57–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03198954 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. New York, NY: Appleton Century Crofts.Google Scholar
Skinner, B. F. (1948). “Superstition” in the pigeon. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 38, 168–172. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0055873 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thorndike, E. L. (1932). The fundamentals of learning. Nueva York, NY: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tolman, E. C. (1932). Purposive behavior in animals and men. New York, NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Vallée-Tourangeau, F. Hollingsworth, L., & Murphy, R. A. (1998). ‘Attentional Bias’ in correlation judgments? Smedslund (1963) revisited. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 39, 221–233. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9450.00082 Google Scholar
Van, Hamme, , L. J., Kao, S. F., & Wasserman, E. A. (1993). Judging interevent relations: From cause to effect and from effect to cause. Memory & Cognition, 21, 802–808. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03202747 Google Scholar
Vega, Z., Vila, J. N., & Rosas, J. M. (2004). Efecto de devaluación e inflación de la consecuencia sobre la asociación respuesta-consecuencia en una tarea instrumental con humanos [Effect of the devaluation and inflation of the consequence on the responsse-consequence association in an instrumental task in humans]. Psicológica, 25, 163–179.Google Scholar
Wagner, A. R. (1985). SOP: A model of automatic memory processing in animal behavior. In Miller, R. R. & Spear, N. E. (Eds.), Information processing in animals: Conditioned inhibition (pp. 223–266). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Waldmann, M. R. (2000). Competition among causes but not effects in predictive and diagnostic learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26, 53–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0278-7393.26.1.53 Google Scholar
Waldmann, M. R., & Holyoak, K. J. (1992). Predictive and diagnostic learning within causal models: Asymmetries in cue competition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2, 222–236. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0096-3445.121.2.222 Google Scholar
Walther, E., Gawronski, B., Blank, H., & Langer, T. (2009). Changing likes and dislikes through the back door: The US-revaluation effect. Cognition and Emotion, 23, 889–917. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699930802212423 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeiler, M. D. (1972). Superstitious behavior in children: An experimental analysis. In Reese, H. W. (Ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior (Vol. 7, pp. 2–29). New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar