The Associability Theory vs. The Strategic Re-Coding Theory: The Reverse Transfer Along a Continuum Effect in Human Discrimination Learning

The Reverse TAC effect occurs when learning of a hard discrimination is facilitated by pre-training on an easier discrimination on the same dimension, even though the response assignments used in pre-training on that easy discrimination are reversed when shifting to the harder discrimination. The Reverse TAC effect has been demonstrated in both animal (Mackintosh and Little, 1970) and human experiments (McLaren and Suret, 2003). We consider two explanations for this effect; one is the associability-based hypothesis and the other is the strategic re-coding-based hypothesis. Associability theory gives an account based on a combination of associability processes and generalization. Associability is a learning rate parameter determined by the relative predictability of an outcome based on its relationship with the target stimulus. If the target stimulus is a relatively good predictor of the outcome (compared to other stimuli present), then this will tend to maintain, or increase associability. This then controls the rate of learning in a simple, associatively-based discrimination learning process. On the other hand, the strategic re-coding theory explains the Reverse TAC effect by appealing to a combination of the adoption of some cognitively derived strategy with simple discrimination learning and emphasizes the interaction between cognitive and associative processes. To assess these hypotheses, we carried out two experiments focusing on the effect of varying the amount of training. Our conclusion is that the strategic re-coding hypothesis is the less plausible account of the Reverse TAC effect. Instead, our empirical data suggested that if subjects’ initial motivation was relatively low and they faced a situation where their performance deteriorated (through no fault of their own) over an extended period of time, then the associability of the to-bediscriminated stimuli would decrease, resulting in a deterioration in their performance.