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Contrast effects or loss aversion? Comment on Usher and McClelland (2004)
Jerome R Busemeyer1, James T Townsend, Adele Diederich
1Psychology Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. jbusemey@indiana.edu
Psychological Review
|January 6, 2005
Summary
Usher and McClelland (2004) introduced a new connectionist model for preferential choice context effects. This study addresses issues raised by comparing it to Roe, Busemeyer, and Townsend's (2001) model, highlighting theoretical differences.
Area of Science:
- Decision Sciences
- Cognitive Psychology
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- Context effects significantly influence preferential choice, encompassing similarity, attraction, and compromise effects.
- Connectionist models offer a framework for understanding these complex decision-making phenomena.
- Previous models by Roe, Busemeyer, and Townsend (2001) provided an initial computational approach.
Discussion:
- Usher and McClelland (2004) proposed a novel connectionist model to account for context effects in preferential choice.
- Their model was directly compared against the earlier connectionist framework.
- Several new theoretical issues were raised by Usher and McClelland regarding existing models.
Key Insights:
- The study critically examines and addresses the issues posed by Usher and McClelland concerning connectionist models of choice.
- Key theoretical distinctions between the Usher-McClelland (2004) and Roe-Busemeyer-Townsend (2001) models are elucidated.
- This work clarifies the landscape of connectionist explanations for context-dependent decision-making.
Outlook:
- Further research can refine connectionist models to better predict and explain nuanced preferential choices.
- Investigating the neural underpinnings of these context effects could provide deeper insights.
- Exploring the applicability of these models to diverse domains of choice behavior is warranted.
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