Retrospective revaluation: The phenomenon and its theoretical implications
Ralph R Miller1, James E Witnauer2
1Department of Psychology, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, United States.
Behavioural Processes
|September 7, 2015
Summary
Retrospective revaluation demonstrates how learning about one stimulus impacts another, influencing behavior. This phenomenon challenges traditional learning models and offers insights into associative processes.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Animal Learning
Background:
- Retrospective revaluation involves changes in conditioned stimulus (CS) responding due to alterations in the associative strength of a concurrently trained CS.
- This phenomenon, observed in compound conditioning (e.g., AX-US), highlights the dynamic nature of associative learning.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the conditions favoring retrospective revaluation.
- To examine the implications of retrospective revaluation for established and emerging models of associative learning.
Main Methods:
- Review and analysis of existing literature on retrospective revaluation.
- Discussion of parameter specificity and cross-species/task generalizability.
Main Results:
- Retrospective revaluation is a reliable phenomenon across various experimental paradigms and species.
- The occurrence is sensitive to specific experimental parameters.
Conclusions:
- Retrospective revaluation serves as a critical test for evaluating the explanatory power of learning models.
- Conventional models like Rescorla and Wagner (1972) do not readily predict this effect, necessitating advancements in learning theory.
Keywords:
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