Beyond Rescorla-Wagner: the ups and downs of learning

Abstract

We check the robustness of a recently proposed dynamical model of associative Pavlovian learning that extends the Rescorla-Wagner (RW) model in a natural way and predicts progressively damped oscillations in the response of the subjects. Using the data of two experiments, we compare the dynamical oscillatory model (DOM) with a non-associative oscillatory model (NAOM) made of the superposition of the RW learning curve and oscillations. Not only do data clearly show an oscillatory pattern, but they also favour the DOM over the NAOM, thus pointing out that these oscillations are the manifestation of an associative process. The latter is interpreted as the fact that subjects make predictions on trial outcomes more extended in time than in the RW model, but with more uncertainty.