P335 Cognitive Psychology, Prof. John K. Kruschke

Data from Homework 2: Blocking of Associative Learning

Table 1': Mean Responses of Many Participants
(3 = Probably A, 1 = Maybe A, -1 = Maybe B, -3 = Probably B.
Individual mean computed first for each cell, then mean across 71 individuals is tabulated here.)
Disease A Disease B Blocking Overshadowing
2.92
SS/df=0.078
N=71
-2.96
SS/df=0.041
N=71
-0.31
SS/df=0.44
N=71
0.51
SS/df=0.51
N=71

Memory for Training Cases:

For both diseases, accuracy during the test phase was extremely good.

Blocking Test Cases:

There was a blocking effect, on average, with people tending to prefer disease B for the blocking cases. That is, the mean of -0.31 is significantly less than zero, t(70)=3.95, p<.01.

There were notable individual differences, however. Below is a frequency distribution of individual means for the blocking cases. It can be seen that many people showed no blocking effect, and a few even the opposite of a blocking effect. But a significant number of people did exhibit blocking.

                                     Cum
      Value  Frequency  Percent   Percent
				
      -3.00         1      1.4       1.4
      -2.00         1      1.4       2.8
      -1.50         2      2.8       5.6
      -1.00        11     15.5      21.1
       -.50        18     25.4      46.5
        .00        29     40.8      87.3
        .50         6      8.5      95.8
       1.00         3      4.2     100.0
               -------  ------- 
      Total        71    100.0  


        |
  -3.00 |** 1
        |
  -2.00 |** 1
        |
  -1.50 |*** 2
        |
  -1.00 |****************** 11
        |
   -.50 |****************************** 18
        |
    .00 |************************************************ 29
        |
    .50 |********** 6
        |
   1.00 |***** 3
        |
        +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
        0         6        12        18        24        30
                             Frequency

Overshadowing Test Cases:

There was an overshadowing effect, on average, with people tending to prefer disease A for the overshadowing cases. That is, the mean of 0.51 is significantly greater than zero, t(70)=6.04, p<.01.

There were notable individual differences, however. Below is a frequency distribution of individual means for the overshadowing cases. It can be seen that many people showed no overshadowing effect, and a few even the opposite of an overshadowing effect. But a significant number of people did exhibit overshadowing.

                                Cum
  Value  Frequency  Percent  Percent
			     
   -.50         5      7.0      7.0
    .00        29     40.8     47.9
    .50        11     15.5     63.4
   1.00        18     25.4     88.7
   1.50         4      5.6     94.4
   2.00         2      2.8     97.2
   2.50         1      1.4     98.6
   3.00         1      1.4    100.0
           -------  -------  
  Total        71    100.0   


        |
   -.50 |******** 5
        |
    .00 |************************************************ 29
        |
    .50 |****************** 11
        |
   1.00 |****************************** 18
        |
   1.50 |******* 4
        |
   2.00 |*** 2
        |
   2.50 |** 1
        |
   3.00 |** 1
        |
        +---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
        0         6        12        18        24        30
                             Frequency

Correlation of Blocking with Overshadowing

It turns out that there was a significant correlation of blocking with overshadowing. That is, if a person showed overshadowing, then he or she tended also to show blocking. The correlation was highly significant, with r = -.612. A scatterplot of 71 individuals is shown below. Notice that many people (21) showed zero blocking and zero overshadowing, but many other people showed both, with covarying magnitude.


                              Blocking vs. Overshadowing
         ++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----++
        1+               1    1         1                                   +
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
       .5+               1    4                        1                    +
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
        0+               2  (21)   3    2         1                         +
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
B        |                                                                  |
l        |                                                                  |
o     -.5+               1    2    7    8                                   +
c        |                                                                  |
k        |                                                                  |
i        |                                                                  |
n        |                                                                  |
g      -1+                    1    1    6    3                              +
         |                                                                  |
M        |                                                                  |
e        |                                                                  |
a        |                                                                  |
n    -1.5+                              1         1                         +
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
       -2+                                   1                              +
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
     -2.5+                                                                  +
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
         |                                                                  |
       -3+                                                  1               +
         ++----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----++
         -2        -1         0         1         2         3         4

                                  Overshadowing Mean





Copyright © 1999 John K. Kruschke