Previous work (Glautier, 2013) showed that the responses made by humans on trial n in simple associative learning tasks were influenced by events that took place on trial n − 1 and a simple extension of the Rescorla-Wagner Model (RWM Rescorla & Wagner, 1972), the Memory Environment Cue Array (MECA) model, was presented to account for those results. In the current work further evidence of non-local influences on responding during associative learning tasks is presented. The Rescorla-Wagner model and the MECA model are evaluated as models for the observed data using qualitative, when the CS is presented and this is said to occur because the associations between the CS and the US representations allow excitation to spread from one representation to the other. Thus, presenting the CS excites the representation of the US and produces the observed CRs. Informally, the presence of the CS generates an expectancy of the US.The Rescorla-Wagner model principles are sufficiently general to have been successfully imported into new domains. Since its development as a model of Pavlovian conditioning in animals the Rescorla-Wagner model has been considered a viable candidate model in a variety of human learning tasks including predictive, causal, and Pavlovian learning (e.g. Chapman & Robbins, 1990;Dickinson, Shanks, & Evenden, 1984;Lachnit, 1988).Equation 1 The primary purpose of the current paper is to extend the work presented by There is no mechanism in the standard Rescorla-Wagner model to take account of this non-local information. Therefore, if participants actually make use of non-local information, the the MECA model should provide a better model of participant behaviour than the Rescorla-Wagner model in these designs.
Experiment 1In Glautier (2013) noisy learning curves were better described by the MECA model than by the Rescorla-Wagner model. The noise in those learning curves was attributed to the influence of trial n − 1 events on trial n responding. In the current experiment a more direct attempt was made to show how the events of trial n − 1 could exert an associative influence on the response observed on trial n. Experimental sequences were set-up so that whenever cue A appeared on trial n − 1 then the outcome occurred on trial n. It was predicted that likelihood of response would be greater on trials involving cue B, which was partially reinforced, if the previous trial had involved cue A.
NON-LOCAL INFLUENCES ON LEARNING 7
MethodProcedures were approved by the University of Southampton ResearchGovernance Office and the School of Psychology's Ethics Committee.Participants. One hundred and seven participants took part. One hundred and six were high school students and one was a teacher who accompanied the students.Recruitment took place at local colleges or during college trips to the University of Southampton for open days. The mean age of the participants was 17.1 years (minimum 16, maximum 39) and they included 20 males. Participants were tested in groups, in computer workstation suites, spread ove...