In 4 experiments, participants judged the contingency between compound predictors and an outcome, as well as the contingency between the compounds' constituent elements and the outcome, in different contingency and similarity conditions. The Rescorla-Wagner (1972) and Pearce (1987) models of associative learning describe different processes through which a compound predictor becomes associated with an outcome, and how responses to a compound are mediated by the association between its constituent elements and the outcome. According to the Rescorla-Wagner model, when a compound is paired with an outcome an association will develop between each element of the compound and the outcome, and responding to the compound will reflect the associative strength accrued to each element in an additive fashion. According to the Pearce model, a compound is associated with the outcome in its entirety (i.e., as a configural cue), and responding to the compound is related to both the associative strength of the configural cue and the associative strength generalised to the compound from other predictors as a function of similarity. Across experiments and conditions, compound predictors were assessed independently of the normative relation between their constituent elements and an outcome. Manipulations of the similarity among predictors, measured as the proportion of elements they share, did not impact judgements of compound predictors. Findings are consistent with the notion that compound predictors are functionally independent of their constituent elements, and possible modifications of the Rescorla-Wagner and Pearce models to account for these findings are discussed. A configural associative model that assumes no generalisation of associative strength among predictors appears to provide the best fit to the empirical findings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/4394 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Pasto, Luigi. |
| Contributors | Mercier, P., |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 140 p. |
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