People often rely on the covariation between events to infer causality. However, covariation between cues and outcomes may change over time. In the associative learning literature, extinction provides a model to study updating of causal beliefs when a previously established relationship no longer holds. Prediction error theories can explain both…

In reinforcement learning (RL) tasks, decision makers learn the values of actions in a context-dependent fashion. Although context dependence has many advantages, it can lead to suboptimal preferences when choice options are extrapolated beyond their original encoding contexts. Here, we tested whether we could manipulate context dependence in RL…

In the current research, we tested the idea that the proximity of contrasting categories in a learning sequence would determine the features to which participants attend in a categorization task. For the first experiment, we designed a 4-category structure in which pairs of categories could be perfectly distinguished using 1 feature. Two of the…

Recent context-control learning studies have shown that switch costs are reduced in a particular context predicting a high probability of switching as compared to another context predicting a low probability of switching. These context-specific switch probability effects suggest that control of task sets, through experience, can become associated…

Phonotactics--constraints on the position and combination of speech sounds within syllables--are subject to statistical differences that gradiently affect speaker and listener behavior (e.g., Vitevitch & Luce, 1999). What statistical properties drive the acquisition of such constraints? Because they are naturally highly correlated, previous…

Our ability to learn about the reputations of others--that is, who is likely to cooperate versus cheat--contributes greatly to cooperativeness in society. There has been recent debate whether humans employ memory bias favoring cheaters (i.e., there is an evolved module for the detection of cheaters) or whether no such bias exists (i.e., reputation…

Four experiments investigate the differences between implicit and explicit sequence learning concerning their resilience to structural and superficial task changes. A superficial change that embedded the SRT task in the context of a selection task, while maintaining the sequence, did selectively hinder the expression of implicit learning. In…