Associative learning theory assumes that prediction error is a driving force in learning. A competing view, probabilistic contrast (PC) theory, is that learning and prediction error are unrelated. We tested a learning phenomenon that has proved troublesome for associative theory--retrospective revaluation--to evaluate these two models. We previously showed that activation in right lateral prefr...

Three experiments investigated the impact of delay on human causal learning. We present a new paradigm based on the presentation of continuous event streams, and use it to test two hypotheses drawn from associative learning theories of causal inference. Unlike free-operant procedures traditionally used to study temporal aspects of causal learning (Shanks, Pearson, & Dickinson, 1989; Shanks & Di...

Associative learning is defined as the ability to link arbitrary stimuli or actions together in memory. The neural correlates of this fundamental form of plasticity were first described in the hippocampus during delay eye blink conditioning and have since been examined using a variety of tasks in both rats and monkeys. In monkeys, the neural correlates of associative learning have been studied ...