Inference-based retrospective revaluation in human causal judgments requires knowledge of within-compound relationships.

Chris J. Mitchell*, Asawari Killedar, Peter F. Lovibond

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In an allergist causal-judgment task, food compounds were followed by an allergic reaction (e.g., AB+), and then 1 cue (A) was revalued. Experiment 1, in which participants who were instructed that whatever was true about one element of a causal compound was also true of the other, showed a reverse of the standard retrospective revaluation effect. That is, ratings of B were higher when A was causal (A+) than when A was safe (A-). This effect was taken to reflect inferential reasoning, not an associative mechanism. In Experiment 2, within-compound associations were found to be necessary to produce this inference-based revaluation. Therefore, evidence that within-compound associations are necessary for retrospective revaluation is consistent with the inferential account of causal judgments.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)418-424
Number of pages0
JournalJ Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process
Volume31
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct 2005

Keywords

  • Allergens
  • Association Learning
  • Causality
  • Cues
  • Food Preferences
  • Humans
  • Hypersensitivity
  • Judgment
  • Knowledge
  • Likelihood Functions
  • Problem Solving
  • Retrospective Studies

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