A flexible and generalizable model of online latent-state learning
Fig 6
Associability depends on history of cue presentation.
A) Experimental results of a backwards blocking experiment from Miller and Matute [43]. After two stages of the experiment, a backwards blocking group (BB) had significantly slower response time to Cue X than a control group (CON) even though Cue X was presented in an identical manner between groups. Their result suggested the associative strength of Cue X can change on trials it is not presented. Reprinted from “Biological Significance in Forward and Backward Blocking Discrepancy Between Animal Conditioning and Human Causal Judgement” by R.R. Miller and H. Matute, 1996, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 125, p. 374. Reprinted with permission from the American Psychological Association. B) Simulation of a backwards blocking experiment. In our model, associability depends on the history of cue presentation through effort matrices. After the combined associative strength of Cue A and Cue X is learned, these effort matrices rotate the direction of learning into the direction of the difference of Cue A and Cue X. As a result, associative strength of Cue X decreases even though Cue A is presented alone, thereby allowing our model to capture backwards blocking. Gray dashed lines demarcate experimental stages.