The Role of Common Elements in the Redundancy Effect

In 2 experiments, participants received a predictive learning task in which the presence of 1 or 2 food items signaled the onset or absence of stomachache in a hypothetical patient. Their task was to identify the cues that signaled the occurrence, or nonoccurrence of this ailment. The 2 groups in Ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes 2020-07, Vol.46 (3), p.286-296
Main Authors: Uengoer, Metin, Lachnit, Harald, Pearce, John M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Clinical trials
Discrimination
Discrimination Learning
Experiments
Female
Human
Learning
Male
Prediction
Test Construction
Theories
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In 2 experiments, participants received a predictive learning task in which the presence of 1 or 2 food items signaled the onset or absence of stomachache in a hypothetical patient. Their task was to identify the cues that signaled the occurrence, or nonoccurrence of this ailment. The 2 groups in Experiment 1 and the single group in Experiment 2 received a blocking treatment, where Cue A and a combination of Cues A and X both signaled stomachache, A+ AX+. These groups also received a simple discrimination where the outcome was signaled by one compound but not another, BY+ CY-. Subsequent test trials revealed the so-called redundancy effect, where X was regarded as a more reliable predictor of the outcome than Y. This result occurred when the trials with A+ preceded those with AX+ (Group E, Experiment 1 and Experiment 2), and when the trials with A+ and AX+ were intermixed (Group C, Experiment 1). The results challenge theories based on the assumption that cues presented together must compete for a limited pool of associative strength. Rather, they are said to support theories that assume changes in attention determine what is learned when two or more cues are presented together.
ISSN:2329-8456
2329-8464
DOI:10.1037/xan0000236