Cue Competition in Human Incidental Learning

McLaren, I. P., Jones, F. W., McLaren, R. and Yeates, F. (2013) Cue competition in human incidental learning. In: Reinforcement Learning and Decision Making Meeting 2013, 25th-27th October, Princeton, New Jersey, USA .There is a question as to whether cue competition effects can be observed in incidental learning paradigms in humans. Some authors have reported that cue competition is not observed, and that previous demonstrations of cue competition have relied on explicit awareness of the task in hand. This would imply that these effects are more likely to be the product of cognitive inference than associative learning. We addressed this question by using two paradigms previously shown to produce associative learning under incidental conditions. One was a standard SRT task in which the preceding two trials of a run of three predicted the third 2/3 of the time, and the other was based on another predictive cue, a colored square, which could also stochastically predict the next response required.We have demonstrated in other studies that both cues would support learning under incidental conditions in the absence of any verbalisable knowledge of the rules involved. The question was to what extent would these two cues compete if run concurrently, as assayed by their ability to make the next response faster and more accurate than controls? We assessed this by comparing a dual cue group to a color only control and a sequence only control. Our results showed that all three groups learned, but that during a test phase where each cue could be assessed independently, the dual group showed a marked decline in performance relative to the color control, and very similar performance to the sequence control. We interpret this as evidence for overshadowing occurring between the two predictive cues in the dual group, such that when combined their performance would be equivalent or superior to either control, but when assessed independently, the color cue actually has a weaker association to the outcome than the equivalent cue in the control group. We conclude that the sequence cues overshadowed the color cues in this task, and discuss possible theoretical accounts of this phenomenon

Cue Competition in Human Associative Learning

CogSci 2013 - 35th annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Berlin, Germany, 31 July - 3 August 2013There is a question as to whether cue competition effects can be observed in incidental learning paradigms in humans. The SRT and other location prediction tasks fall into that group often considered to show associative learning under incidental conditions. We used a standard SRT task in which the preceding two trials of a run of three predicted the third 2/3 of the time, and added another predictive cue, a colored square, which could also stochastically predict the next response required. The question was to what extent would these two cues compete in terms of incidental learning to make the next response faster and more accurate than controls? We assessed this by comparing the dual cue group to a color only control and a sequence only control. Our results showed that all three groups learned, and that the dual group learned about both cues at least as well as the individual controls, but that when switched to a test phase where each cue could be assessed independently, the dual group showed a marked decline in performance relative to the color control. We interpret this as evidence for overshadowing occurring between the two predictive cues in the dual group, such that when combined their performance is equivalent or superior to either control, but when assessed independently, the color cue actually has a weaker association to the outcome than the equivalent cue in the control group.This research was supported by an ESRC grant to IPL McLaren and FW Jone

Cue Competition as a Retrieval Deficit

Four experiments using rats as subjects investigated the claim of Williams (1996) that cue competition results from an associative acquisition deficit, rather than a performance deficit. In Experiment 1, extinction of an overshadowing stimulus following overshadowing treatment increased responding to the overshadowed stimulus, thereby replicating prior observations with new parameters. In Experiment 2, an overshadowed stimulus failed to support second-order conditioning unless the overshadowing stimulus received prior extinction treatment. Experiment 3 replicated the recovery from overshadowing effect seen in Experiment 1 using a sensory preconditioning procedure. Most important, in Experiment 4 an overshadowed stimulus failed to block conditioned responding to a novel CS, but blocking by the overshadowed cue was observed following posttraining extinction of the overshadowing stimulus. These results, as well as those of Williams, are discussed in terms of traditional and more recent acquisition-focused models as well as an extension of the comparator hypothesis ( Denniston, Savastano, & Miller, 2001)

An analysis of within-compound associations in spatial learning

The nature of spatial learning has been argued to be qualitatively different from that of associative learning. Compelling evidence for this argument is provided by experiments showing a lack of typical associative cue competition between spatial and non-spatial cues. However, this lack of cue-competition is also evident in wholly nonspatial experiments and has been explained by the presence of within-compound associations: an associative phenomenon. This thesis aims to determine whether such associations can explain similar cue-competition failures in spatial learning. In a series of experiments it is shown that these within-compound associations exist between spatial and non-spatial cues in the rat, and that they can account for the frequent failure to observe typical cue-competition between these cues. In addition, it is demonstrated that the extent to which this failure occurs depends upon the relative salience of the cues in question. In related experiments, it is also shown that these within-compound associations between spatial and non-spatial cues exist in humans. However, manifestation of these associations appears to depend on the gender of the participant, with associations forming in males but not in females. Further experiments suggest that this difference is likely due to the fact that the females are much less able to learn about the spatial cues in question. It is argued that spatial learning need not be qualitatively different from associative learning if such associative phenomena as within-compound associations are accounted for

Stimulus property effects on cue competition and temporal estimates during causal learning

PhD ThesisLearning and timing models have developed along different trajectories within psychology; however, more recent theorising has speculated that both of these phenomena might be modelled within a single theoretical model. While such an approach has merit, the majority of studies into how learning and timing interact have employed nonhuman subjects. Consequently, little is known about how these core psychological processes might interact in humans; this body of experiments was, conducted in order to investigate this issue. Experiments were run to test the hypothesis that cue competition attenuates the ability of participants to estimate a stimulus’ temporal parameters. By studying whether temporal estimates differed between cues in conditions in which blocking and overshadowing was predicted to be weaker or stronger, it could be determined whether time and association were encoded together. In a series of causal learning experiments participants were trained with a cue competition paradigm. On test both cue competition and temporal estimates were examined. The results showed that participant instructions influenced cue competition and that cue properties could influence blocking and overshadowing in specific cases. Temporal estimates made by participants were influenced by cue properties: less accurate estimates of target cue duration were made in several experiments, and temporal estimates between groups varied when blocking and overshadowing were constant. Existing associative learning theories could predict blocking and overshadowing, but could not predict the temporal results. Timing models, for example, the SET model, failed to predict temporal results. To conclude, the results suggest that timing is not encoded as part of the association.Newcastle Universit

Cue competition between shapes in human spatial learning

In many species, including humans the basic ability to move to a goal is essential to survival. Central to understanding how this ability operates in the cognitive systems of humans and other animals is whether learning about spatial relationships follows the same principles as learning about other kinds of contingent relationships between events. In non-spatial contingent relationships, learning about one stimulus can influence learning about other stimuli. For example, in blocking, learning that cue-A predicts an outcome can reduce learning about a subsequently added cue-B that is paired with cue-A when both cues predict the same outcome (Kamin, 1969). To the extent that spatial learning operates according to similar principles to other forms of contingency learning, spatial cues that can be used to locate a goal should also compete with each other. Failure to find blocking between spatial cues that can be used to locate a goal would be consistent with an alternative account of how spatial knowledge is acquired and used: one that assumes a quite different learning mechanism. For example, the hypothesis of locale learning assumes that a cognitive map of the environmental layout is automatically updated when cues are added or removed from the environment (O'Keefe and Nadel, 1978). Automatic updating implies that added or removed cues will be processed irrespective of what is learned about other cues, rather than competing with or otherwise interacting with those other cues. A second, related, hypothesis is that the geometric properties of the environment are processed in an independent module that is impervious to cue competition from non-geometric features (Cheng, 1986; Gallistel, 1990). This hypothesis implies that geometric cues within the module are also immune to competition from each other. In the current experiments, evidence for blocking of goal location learning was investigated in virtual environments (VEs) in which the presence or absence of large-scale structures can be manipulated. Experiment 1 found that an irregular-shaped flat-walled enclosure blocked learning about a landmark subsequently placed within its boundaries, providing preliminary evidence that shape may not be processed in a specialised module. However, many participants appeared not to be using shape to locate the goal. In the remaining experiments, spatial cues were large-scale 2D shapes presented on the ground which ensured that participants perceived overall shape. Experiments 2 and 3 found no evidence of blocking between shapes when these stimuli were presented in the context of minimal "auxiliary" cues. When additional auxiliary stimuli were presented throughout learning in Experiment 4, a direction consistent with blocking was found, but the effect was not statistically significant. In Experiments 5 and 6 a clear blocking effect was found under circumstances that suggested that the critical variable to finding blocking was the number of irrelevant shapes present either during training or at test. Experiment 7 confirmed that, rather than the test conditions, the presence or absence of stimuli during one or both training phases was the crucial variable in promoting blocking. Experiment 8 investigated the hypothesis that an initial process of learning to ignore irrelevant shapes in phase 1 is a requirement for blocking of learning. In the absence of auxiliary cues in phase 1, blocking was not found. The implications of these outcomes are discussed in relation to the hypothesis of specialised geometric processing, changes in attention, and the conditions of discrimination learning

Biological Significance as a Determinant of Cue Competition

Many researchers have noted the similarities between causal judgment in humans and Pavlovian conditioning in animals. One recently noted discrepancy between these two forms of learning is the absence of backward blocking in animals, in contrast with its occurrence in human causality Judgment. Here we report two experiments that investigated the role of biological significance in backward Mocking as a potential explanation of this discrepancy. With rats as subjects, we used sensory preconditioning and second-order conditioning procedures, which allowed the to-be-blocked cue to retain low biological significance during training for some animals, but not for others. Backward blocking was observed only when the target cue was of low biological significance during training. These results suggest that the apparent discrepancy between human causal judgment and animal Pavlovian conditioning arises not because of a species difference, but because human causality studies ordinarily use stimuli of low biological significance, whereas animal Pavlovian studies ordinarily use stimuli of high biological significance, which are apparently protected against cue competition

Cue competition between shapes in human spatial learning

In many species, including humans the basic ability to move to a goal is essential to survival. Central to understanding how this ability operates in the cognitive systems of humans and other animals is whether learning about spatial relationships follows the same principles as learning about other kinds of contingent relationships between events. In non-spatial contingent relationships, learning about one stimulus can influence learning about other stimuli. For example, in blocking, learning that cue-A predicts an outcome can reduce learning about a subsequently added cue-B that is paired with cue-A when both cues predict the same outcome (Kamin, 1969). To the extent that spatial learning operates according to similar principles to other forms of contingency learning, spatial cues that can be used to locate a goal should also compete with each other. Failure to find blocking between spatial cues that can be used to locate a goal would be consistent with an alternative account of how spatial knowledge is acquired and used: one that assumes a quite different learning mechanism. For example, the hypothesis of locale learning assumes that a cognitive map of the environmental layout is automatically updated when cues are added or removed from the environment (O'Keefe and Nadel, 1978). Automatic updating implies that added or removed cues will be processed irrespective of what is learned about other cues, rather than competing with or otherwise interacting with those other cues. A second, related, hypothesis is that the geometric properties of the environment are processed in an independent module that is impervious to cue competition from non-geometric features (Cheng, 1986; Gallistel, 1990). This hypothesis implies that geometric cues within the module are also immune to competition from each other. In the current experiments, evidence for blocking of goal location learning was investigated in virtual environments (VEs) in which the presence or absence of large-scale structures can be manipulated. Experiment 1 found that an irregular-shaped flat-walled enclosure blocked learning about a landmark subsequently placed within its boundaries, providing preliminary evidence that shape may not be processed in a specialised module. However, many participants appeared not to be using shape to locate the goal. In the remaining experiments, spatial cues were large-scale 2D shapes presented on the ground which ensured that participants perceived overall shape. Experiments 2 and 3 found no evidence of blocking between shapes when these stimuli were presented in the context of minimal "auxiliary" cues. When additional auxiliary stimuli were presented throughout learning in Experiment 4, a direction consistent with blocking was found, but the effect was not statistically significant. In Experiments 5 and 6 a clear blocking effect was found under circumstances that suggested that the critical variable to finding blocking was the number of irrelevant shapes present either during training or at test. Experiment 7 confirmed that, rather than the test conditions, the presence or absence of stimuli during one or both training phases was the crucial variable in promoting blocking. Experiment 8 investigated the hypothesis that an initial process of learning to ignore irrelevant shapes in phase 1 is a requirement for blocking of learning. In the absence of auxiliary cues in phase 1, blocking was not found. The implications of these outcomes are discussed in relation to the hypothesis of specialised geometric processing, changes in attention, and the conditions of discrimination learning

Superattraction: The superlearning phenomenon in interpersonal attraction

This thesis will discuss Pavlovian conditioning and its utility in researching various areas of psychology including interpersonal attraction. It was designed to extend the application of conditioning principles in the study of interpersonal attraction by testing cue competition predictions made by the reinforcement-context theory of attraction

How You Get There From Here:Interaction of Visual Landmarks and Path Integration in Human Navigation

How do people combine their sense of direction with their use of visual landmarks during navigation? Cue-integration theory predicts that such cues will be optimally integrated to reduce variability, whereas cue-competition theory predicts that one cue will dominate the response direction. We tested these theories by measuring both accuracy and variability in a homing task while manipulating information about path integration and visual landmarks. We found that the two cues were near-optimally integrated to reduce variability, even when landmarks were shifted up to 90°. Yet the homing direction was dominated by a single cue, which switched from landmarks to path integration when landmark shifts were greater than 90°. These findings suggest that cue integration and cue competition govern different aspects of the homing response: Cues are integrated to reduce response variability but compete to determine the response direction. The results are remarkably similar to data on animal navigation, which implies that visual landmarks reset the orientation, but not the precision, of the path-integration system