The present experiments investigated associative changes during compound training involving cues with different learning histories. Across three human predictive learning experiments using the compound test procedure (Rescorla, 2000), participants learned about the effects of foods (cues) on inflammation, outcome ranging from -10 (or 0) to +10, in a hypothetical patient. Cues A and C were trained as excitatory (AW+10, CZ+10), whereas cues B and D as inhibitory (X+10 XB0 XD0 in Experiments 1 and 3; X+10 XB-10 XD-10 in Experiment 2). Subsequently, participants received compound training with AB+10, followed by a final test in which outcome expectations were assessed for the test compounds AD and BC. Moreover, Experiments 4a and 4b, using a forced-choice confidence test, demonstrated that participants were less certain about A after AW+10 training than about B after X+10 XB0 or X+10 XB-10 training. If cues that generate greater individual prediction error during the compound training undergo larger associative change, BC should receive higher ratings than AD. Alternatively, if participants preferentially attribute the compound outcome to the less certain cue, AD should receive higher ratings than BC. In Experiments 1 and 3, BC received higher ratings than AD, suggesting that the cue with greater individual prediction error, and higher certainty, underwent greater associative change. However, in Experiment 2, AD received higher ratings than BC, indicating greater learning about the cue with lower certainty, and lower individual prediction error. We discuss theoretical implications of our findings for the roles of prediction error and certainty in associative learning.
Bilgin et al. (2026) find that rats and humans can monitor the magnitude of errors in the timing of their goal-directed actions, with the former performing better. Rats and humans use the same task representation but different task variables, which are derived from training history in humans and from recent experience in rats.
Kieseler et al. (2026) show that Octopus bimaculoides can learn to use a mirror reflection to navigate to an out-of-view target for a reward, providing the first demonstration of mirror-mediated foraging, and of potential spatial reflection use, in an invertebrate. We situate this within a framework that distinguishes between different types of mirror information processing (including mirror self-recognition), examine statistical and stimulus-related caveats, and argue that reflection use may be more ecologically grounded in cephalopods than an aquatic lifestyle might suggest.
The midsession reversal task is frequently used to study behavioral flexibility and decision strategies in animals. In a typical version of the task, subjects complete 80 trials in which they choose between two simultaneously presented stimuli, S1 and S2. During the first 40 trials, responses to S1 are reinforced, whereas responses to S2 are not. The contingencies then reverse and, from Trial 41 to 80, only responses to S2 are reinforced. In birds, performance in this task is often characterized by a strong preference for S1 on the first trials and for S2 on the last trials, with a gradual reversal of preference from S1 to S2 around the contingency-reversal trial. Anticipatory and perseverative errors at midsession suggest that the birds rely on elapsed time since the session began to reverse their preference. In contrast, rats tested in operant conditioning chambers typically show near-optimal performance with few errors, a pattern often interpreted as evidence that rats rely primarily on local reinforcement cues rather than temporal information. The present study investigated whether rats exclusively rely on local cues in the midsession reversal task or whether temporal information also contributes to the decision process. Two groups of rats were trained in the standard task with different intertrial intervals: 5 or 10 s. During acquisition, both groups displayed similar learning rates and near-optimal steady-state performance with minimal anticipatory or perseverative errors. However, when the intertrial interval changed in probe sessions, the pattern of choices was affected also by the temporal midpoint experienced during training. These results suggest that rats rely on a mixed strategy that combines local response-outcome cues from the last trial(s) with global time cues. Hence, temporal control may be present even when it is not expressed during standard training sessions.
While navigating home, homing pigeons can extract directional, that is, compass, information from the earth's magnetic field. This navigational mechanism may begin with a peripheral transduction process based on iron-containing macrophages located in the liver. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
