L5 Attention Theories Flashcards
Mackintosh and Pearch-Hall
What is the Latent Inhibition Effect?
(Also known as the CS Preexposure effect)
If a CS is repeatedly presented without consequence during the Exposure phase, then animals subsequently learn to associate it with the US more slowly (compared to a novel CS, the tone).
Why is Latent Inhibition Effect actually a bad name for the phenomenon? Why should we use CS Preexposure effect instead?
Because there is no latent inhibition
The CS does _not_ become inhibitory during the exposure phase.
Can the Rescorla-Wagner’s Model account for Latent Inhibition?
Why?
No
Rescorla-Wagner doesn’t account for the exposure phase (doesn’t account for attention)
According to Rescorla-Wagner, nothing happens to the CS during the Exposure phase (associative strength stays at 0), so it should condition as fast as the tone. However, this is not what happens.
What is happening to the animals during the Exposure Phase because of latent inhibition?
The animals become habituated to the light.
This causes them to pay less attention to the light than to the tone during training.
How does Mackintosh’s (1975) Selective Attention Theory explain conditioning?
That Conditioning is a two-stage process
Stage 1: Pay attention to some of the stimuli that are presented.
Stage 2: Form associations between stimuli that are attended to.
How is Selective Attention Theory different to Hull-Spence and Rescorla-Wagners Model?
Hull-Spence and Rescorla-Wagner Models assume that stimuli are automatically attended. (Attention is guaranteed)
Mackintosh’s model acknowledges that some stimuli might be ignored.
What is Selective Attention Theories;
Inverse Law of Selective Attention?
We have a limited attentional resource (what we can pay attention to).
If one stimulus receives a lot of attention, then all other stimuli that are also present will be attended to a lesser extent.
What is Selective Attention Theories;
Attention Allocation Rules
If a stimulus is attended to and is reinforced (i.e., it is followed by a US), then it will be more likely to be attended again. If the stimulus is not reinforced, then attention will decline).
If a tone is presented with food, animals will pay attention to the tone. However if a tone is presented with nothing, animals will not pay attention to tone.
What are the two laws/rules of Mackintosh’s Selective Attention Theory?
Inverse law of selective attention
Attention allocation rules
How does Mackintosh’s Selective Attention Theory explain latent inhibition?
Attention to the light diminishes during Exposure because it is not reinforced (attention allocation rules). This explains the subsequent slower learning.
How does Selective Attention Theory explain blocking?
Is this accurate?
Attention to the blocking stimulus (A) increases during Phase 1, leaving little attention available for the blocked stimulus (B).
However, it does not always make the correct predictions.
What are the 4 assumptions of the Pearce-Hall Attention Model (1980)?
- Learning is proportional to attention (like Mackintosh)
- Attention is proportional to (λ-ΣV), i.e., the amount of surprise
- Unpredictable events enhance attention.
- Once a US is fully predicted by a CS, attention to the CS diminishes
What is the Pearce-Hall (1980) Attentional Model experiment?
The little to large US experiment.
It had two groups, one group were pretrained a CS with a ‘small’ US and the other no pretraining.
It showed that the pre-train group with a CS conditioned with a little US would learn slower than a group with no-pretraining.
Which attention models correctly or incorrectly predict the Pearce-Hall Attentional Model experiment?
Rescorla-Wagner model and Mackintosh attention model incorrectly predict faster learning in Group Pretrain.
Pearce-Hall predicts correctly.
Why did animals in the Pearce-Hall Attentional Model initial experiment have slower learning than the no pre train group?
Because they already knew that the CS produced a small reward so they paid little attention to it.
- No surprise.*
- Pearce-Hall model correctly predicts this.*
Which researchers learning model successfully predicted the following results:
Why?
Pearce-Hall
Rescorla-Wagner and Mackintosh would predict pretrain learns just as fast as no-pretrain
Pearce-Hall said that learning is proportional to the amount of surprise. Unpredictable events enhance attention.
In the pre train group, the US was fully predicted by a CS, which meant the attention to the CS diminishes, no matter the new reward.
What would Mackintosh’s Selective Attention Theory predict about which group should exhibit most orienting responses in the Kaye and Pearce (1984) experiment?
Why?
Was the prediction accurate?
Continuous reinforcement group (100%)
The theory believes attention should be proportional to associative strength. (100% > 50%)
It was not accurate.
What would Pearce-Hall Theory predict about which group should exhibit most orienting responses? (Kaye and Pearce (1984))
Why?
Was the prediction accurate?
Partial Reinforcement Group (50%)
Theory believes attention should be proportional to surprise (or unpredictability of the US)
This prediction was correct.
What is the Partial Reinforcement Extinction Effect?
Animals who have been taught through partial CS-US pairing will have a much slower extinction time than those who learnt through continuous pairing.
(explains why it is so hard to quit gambling)
Which learning theory correctly predicts the partial reinforcement extinction effect test results below?
Why?
Mackintosh
The continuously reinforced Light should receive more attention, hence learning about it should be faster. This is true of BOTH acquisition and extinction: therefore the light in the continuous group should lose its strength faster.
Which theory is better for predicting learning:
Mackintosh, Pearce-Hall or Both
There is evidence for both
