Delayed exposure to additional relevant information in nonmetric multiple-cue probability learning

Abstract

Five experiments were run to further study the effect of additional information becoming relevant during the course of learning trials in nonmetric multiple-cue probability learning. The first experiment replicated the finding that utilization of configural information was degraded when the configural information became relevant during learning in an environment with a relevant dimension compared with the level of utilization if the configural information was relevant to begin with. The amount of degradation was again found to be constant regardless of the length of delay in introducing the relevant configural information, even to a delay of only 20 trials. The second experiment found little or no degradation in utilization of dimensional information that became relevant during learning in an environment with relevant configural information. The third experiment found some degradation for the utilization of dimensional information that became relevant during learning in an environment with relevant information in the other dimension. The longer the delay in introducing this relevant information, the greater the degradation. The fourth and fifth experiments found lower average utilization of configural information that became relevant during learning in an environment with no other relevant information.