Judging the Importance of Constant and Variable Candidate Causes: A Test of the Power PC Theory

1998 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Vallée-Tourangeau ◽  
Robin A. Murphy ◽  
Susan Drew ◽  
A.G. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Causal Power ◽  
Base Rate ◽  
The Other ◽  
Associative Model ◽  
Contrast Model ◽  
Causal Induction ◽  
Power Theory ◽  
Factorial Combination ◽  
Target Effect

In two causal induction experiments subjects rated the importance of pairs of candidate causes in the production of a target effect; one candidate was present on every trial (constant cause), whereas the other was present on only some trials (variable cause). The design of both experiments consisted of a factorial combination of two values of the variable cause's covariation with the effect and three levels of the base rate of the effect. Judgements of the constant cause were inversely proportional to the level of covariation of the variable cause but were proportional to the base rate of the effect. The judgements were consistent with the predictions derived from the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model of associative learning and with the predictions of the causal power theory of the probabilistic contrast model (Cheng, 1997) or “power PC theory”. However, judgements of the importance of the variable candidate cause were proportional to the base rate of the effect, a phenomenon that is in some cases anticipated by the power PC theory. An alternative associative model, Pearce's (1987) similarity-based generalization model, predicts the influence of the base rate of the effect on the estimates of both the constant and the variable cause.

What Is Transferred in Causal Generalization Across Contexts?

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 306-313
Author(s):  
Moyun Wang ◽  
Pengfei Yin
Keyword(s):  
Causal Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
Causal Induction ◽  
Transfer Pattern ◽  
Causal Strength

Abstract. The covariation and causal power account for causal induction make different predictions for what is transferred in causal generalization across contexts. Two experiments tested these predictions using hypothetical scenarios in which the effect of an intervention was evaluated between (Experiment 1) or within (Experiment 2) groups. Each experiment contained a manipulation of ΔP, power and their combination. Both experiments found that causal transfer was determined by ΔP rather than causal power. The overall transfer pattern supports ΔP transfer account rather than the other transfer accounts. Causal transfers based on ΔP are irrational, violating the coherence criterion of the causal power framework. The ΔP transfer is consistent with previous findings that ΔP is a main mental non-normative measure of causal strength in causal induction.

scholarly journals The base rate principle and the fairness principle in social judgment

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (27) ◽  
pp. 7475-7480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Cao ◽  
Mahzarin R. Banaji
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Correct Answer ◽  
Social Judgment ◽  
Base Rate ◽  
The Other ◽  
Implicit Beliefs ◽  
Base Rates ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Fourth Experiment ◽  
Fairness Principle

Meet Jonathan and Elizabeth. One person is a doctor and the other is a nurse. Who is the doctor? When nothing else is known, the base rate principle favors Jonathan to be the doctor and the fairness principle favors both individuals equally. However, when individuating facts reveal who is actually the doctor, base rates and fairness become irrelevant, as the facts make the correct answer clear. In three experiments, explicit and implicit beliefs were measured before and after individuating facts were learned. These facts were either stereotypic (e.g., Jonathan is the doctor, Elizabeth is the nurse) or counterstereotypic (e.g., Elizabeth is the doctor, Jonathan is the nurse). Results showed that before individuating facts were learned, explicit beliefs followed the fairness principle, whereas implicit beliefs followed the base rate principle. After individuating facts were learned, explicit beliefs correctly aligned with stereotypic and counterstereotypic facts. Implicit beliefs, however, were immune to counterstereotypic facts and continued to follow the base rate principle. Having established the robustness and generality of these results, a fourth experiment verified that gender stereotypes played a causal role: when both individuals were male, explicit and implicit beliefs alike correctly converged with individuating facts. Taken together, these experiments demonstrate that explicit beliefs uphold fairness and incorporate obvious and relevant facts, but implicit beliefs uphold base rates and appear relatively impervious to counterstereotypic facts.

A new causal power theory

2011 ◽  
pp. 628-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin B. Korb ◽  
Erik P. Nyberg ◽  
Lucas Hope
Keyword(s):  
Causal Power ◽  
Power Theory

From covariation to causation: A causal power theory.

1997 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia W. Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Causal Power ◽  
Power Theory

scholarly journals Western Immigration in the fourteenth-century Golden Horde: The Case of Venetian Tana

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-107
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Pubblici ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fourteenth Century ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sea Of Azov ◽  
State Archive ◽  
Associative Model ◽  
Western Population ◽  
The Sea Of Azov ◽  
The World

Objective: This paper’s aim is to reconstruct the Western population of Venetian Tana in the fourteenth century, the residents’ perception of their condition as “mig­rants”, and finally this population’s interactions with the other communities who lived there. Research materials: The sources used are primarily the notarial deeds of the Venice State Archive together with the vast and excellent scholarship produced in recent decades. Research results and novelty: For over two centuries the settlement of Tana, situated in the territory of the Golden Horde, represented the easternmost outpost of the Latin emporia in the Levant. Here, the utilitarian concept of the Western urban mercantile class found itself confronted with a new experience. This group was a minority living in close contact with larger, cohesive communities whose cultural background was extremely diverse. Those who emigrated east were mainly the emerging urban bourgeoisie, but also families of ancient noble origin who had nothing in common with the world of the Steppe and its traditional roots. These citizens came to the Levant, bringing with them the urban associative model. The life of the settlement at the mouth of the river Don is an ideal basis for observing the flow of people who left Venice and its surroundings on galleys and, after months of travel, arrived on the shores of the Sea of Azov.

scholarly journals Associative Learning from Replayed Experience

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliot A. Ludvig ◽  
Mahdieh S. Mirian ◽  
E. James Kehoe ◽  
Richard S. Sutton
Keyword(s):  
Associative Learning ◽  
Spontaneous Recovery ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Learning Rule ◽  
Associative Model ◽  
Retrospective Revaluation ◽  
Spacing Effects ◽  
Trial Spacing ◽  
Associative Models ◽  
Present Simulation

AbstractWe develop an extension of the Rescorla-Wagner model of associative learning. In addition to learning from the current trial, the new model supposes that animals store and replay previous trials, learning from the replayed trials using the same learning rule. This simple idea provides a unified explanation for diverse phenomena that have proved challenging to earlier associative models, including spontaneous recovery, latent inhibition, retrospective revaluation, and trial spacing effects. For example, spontaneous recovery is explained by supposing that the animal replays its previous trials during the interval between extinction and test. These include earlier acquisition trials as well as recent extinction trials, and thus there is a gradual re-acquisition of the conditioned response. We present simulation results for the simplest version of this replay idea, where the trial memory is assumed empty at the beginning of an experiment, all experienced trials are stored and none removed, and sampling from the memory is performed at random. Even this minimal replay model is able to explain the challenging phenomena, illustrating the explanatory power of an associative model enhanced by learning from remembered as well as real experiences.

Associative olfactory learning in the moth Manduca sexta

2000 ◽  
Vol 203 (13) ◽  
pp. 2025-2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.C. Daly ◽  
B.H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Associative Learning ◽  
Manduca Sexta ◽  
Olfactory Learning ◽  
The Other ◽  
Proboscis Extension Response ◽  
Treatment Conditions ◽  
Random Pairing ◽  
Pavlovian Learning ◽  
Proboscis Extension

The proboscis extension response conditioning protocol has been used to explore olfactory-based associative learning in an array of insects. We have monitored a different feeding reflex, which involves activation of the cibarial pump, to demonstrate olfactory learning in the moth Manduca sexta. In the first experiment, four different treatment conditions were used to assess associative (Pavlovian) learning. The results indicate that an excitatory cibarial pump response develops and is retained for at least 24 h only when odor is forward-paired with the presentation of sucrose. Three control treatments, backward pairing, air (no odor) pairing and random pairing, failed to increase the cibarial pump response. However, an excitatory cibarial pump response developed when the backward- and air-paired groups received forward pairing of odor and sucrose on the following day. In contrast, moths experiencing random pairing on day 1 displayed a slower rate of acquisition during forward pairing on day 2, which may indicate inhibition. The second experiment investigated discrimination learning. Two odors were randomly presented, one odor being forward-paired with sucrose (+), the other presented alone (−) in a counterbalanced design. Again, only when odor was forward-paired with sucrose did learning occur. We discuss the implication of these findings for a broader comparative analysis of learning in insects.

scholarly journals A-248 Using Rates of Low Scores to Assess Agreement between CNSVS and a Traditional Battery of Neuropsychological Tests

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 1043-1043
Author(s):  
Ivins B ◽  
Arrieux J ◽  
Cole W ◽  
Schwab K
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Base Rate ◽  
Test Battery ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mild Tbi ◽  
Valid Data ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Standard Deviations

Abstract Objective CNSVS is a brief computerized test battery used to assess cognitive function. We compare intra-individual agreement between CNSVS and a battery of traditional neuropsychological tests using rates of low scores. Methods Complete and valid data from 246 healthy soldiers and 177 soldiers ≤ 7 days from sustaining mild TBI (mTBI) were used in this analysis. All soldiers were consecutively administered CNSVS and a traditional test battery consisting of: TOPF, WAIS-IV, CVLT-II, RCFT, DKEFS, and CPT-II. We performed base rate analyses of both batteries to determine the proportions of soldiers who had various numbers of scores that were 1.0+, 1.5+, and 2.0+ standard deviations below the normative mean. We used those rates to place Soldiers into a “low score hierarchy” ranging from the least poor (i.e. ~ > 10th %ile) to the worst overall performance (i.e. ~ ≤ 10th %ile). We then compared agreement between the batteries at each of those levels. Results More soldiers with mTBI had low scores than healthy soldiers on both batteries. Of the soldiers who performed at the worst level on one battery, 95.9% from CNSVS and 80.0% from traditional had some level of poor performance on the other battery. However, of the soldiers who performed at the worst level on either battery, only 38.8% from CNSVS and 63.3% from traditional also performed at the worst level on the other battery. Conclusion These batteries similarly identify poor performance to a degree, though with some potentially meaningful differences still present.

Is causal induction based on causal power? Critique of Cheng (1997).

2000 ◽  
Vol 107 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Lober ◽  
David R. Shanks
Keyword(s):  
Causal Power ◽  
Causal Induction
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