Outcome predictability biases cued search

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Associative Learning

Background:

• Humans and animals prioritize learning about environmental cues with a history of reinforcement (predictiveness bias).
• Less is understood about whether past outcome predictability influences learning (predictability bias).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if prior predictability of an outcome influences learning in a contingency learning task.
• To determine if a predictability bias exists, as predicted by formal associative learning models.

Main Methods:

• Experimental assessment of learning biases in a contingency learning task.
• Comparison of learning rates for previously unpredictable versus previously predictable stimuli.

Main Results:

• Previously unpredictable stimuli were learned about less effectively than previously predictable stimuli.
• This effect was not explained by strategic search or contextual blocking.

Conclusions:

• Findings suggest a biased learning mechanism influences how individuals learn about outcomes.
• The results challenge existing formal models of associative learning that do not account for predictability bias.