Blocking Effects on Dimensions: How attentional focus on values can spill over to the dimension level

Blocking effects were examined in an associative learning task in which to-be-learned cues varied along two dimensions. Experiment 1 replicated the standard blocking effect when to-be-learned cues had two predictive dimensions. In Experiment 2, cues varied on one predictive dimension and a second non-predictive dimension. Results were that blocking a particular cue (e.g. purple circle) led to blocking its entire dimension value (purple shapes). These findings suggest that attentional biases can be created by blocking effects that spill across dimensions, including dimensions that have traditionally been accepted as separable.