TY - JOUR
T1 - The Effect of Outcome Probability on Generalization in Predictive Learning
AU - Ram, Hadar
AU - Struyf, Dieter
AU - Vervliet, Bram
AU - Menahem, Gal
AU - Liberman, Nira
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Hogrefe Publishing.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - People apply what they learn from experience not only to the experienced stimuli, but also to novel stimuli. But what determines how widely people generalize what they have learned? Using a predictive learning paradigm, we examined the hypothesis that a low (vs. high) probability of an outcome following a predicting stimulus would widen generalization. In three experiments, participants learned which stimulus predicted an outcome (S+) and which stimulus did not (S-) and then indicated how much they expected the outcome after each of eight novel stimuli ranging in perceptual similarity to S+ and S-. The stimuli were rings of different sizes and the outcome was a picture of a lightning bolt. As hypothesized, a lower probability of the outcome widened generalization. That is, novel stimuli that were similar to S+ (but not to S-) produced expectations for the outcome that were as high as those associated with S+.
AB - People apply what they learn from experience not only to the experienced stimuli, but also to novel stimuli. But what determines how widely people generalize what they have learned? Using a predictive learning paradigm, we examined the hypothesis that a low (vs. high) probability of an outcome following a predicting stimulus would widen generalization. In three experiments, participants learned which stimulus predicted an outcome (S+) and which stimulus did not (S-) and then indicated how much they expected the outcome after each of eight novel stimuli ranging in perceptual similarity to S+ and S-. The stimuli were rings of different sizes and the outcome was a picture of a lightning bolt. As hypothesized, a lower probability of the outcome widened generalization. That is, novel stimuli that were similar to S+ (but not to S-) produced expectations for the outcome that were as high as those associated with S+.
KW - Generalization
KW - learning from experience
KW - partial reinforcement
KW - predictive learning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061854982&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1027/1618-3169/a000429
DO - 10.1027/1618-3169/a000429
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AN - SCOPUS:85061854982
SN - 1618-3169
VL - 66
SP - 23
EP - 39
JO - Experimental Psychology
JF - Experimental Psychology
IS - 1
ER -