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Robin Murphy

University of Oxford, Experimental Psychology, Faculty Member

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I am an experimental psychologist. Research in my lab is involved in the discovery of the computational and brain processes that support learning. I describe these in associative network terms and both model learning as well as studying the brain and its network functions.

At the moment I am interested in how these relate to cause-effect correlation learning and sequence or temporal learning, configural processing, mood and depression as well as stereotype formation.

Samples of papers in all these areas are downloadable below from my homepage
Here are links to Oxford Psychology
http://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/

A Guardian podcast discussing some of my work
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/audio/2009/jan/19/science-weekly-podcast

A link to a page from the magazine Science
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/319/5871/1849?ijkey=LM.8fnllyGlrU&keytype=ref&siteid=sci

and from Science's podcast
http://www.sciencelive.org/component/option,com_mediadb/task,play/idstr,UCL-Does_Rule_Learning_Make_Us_Human____Tue__27_Jan_2009_12_57_32__0000/vv,-2/Itemid,99999999
Phone: +44 (0) 1865 276751
Address: Department of Experimental Psychology
University of Oxford, South Parks Road
Oxford, OX1 3UD
and
Corpus Christi College
Merton St. Oxford, OX1 4JF

less

University of Chicago

Robert Lickliter

Florida International University

University of Chicago

University of California, Santa Barbara

Harvard University

University of Oxford

David Pierre Leibovitz

Carleton University

Sharon Tettegah

University of California, Santa Barbara

Kansas State University

Daniel Casasanto

University of Chicago

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Papers by Robin Murphy

To neglect or integrate contingency information from outside the task frame, that is the question! Effects of depressed mood

Acta Psychologica, Jul 1, 2017

The problem with explaining symptoms: The origin of biases in causal processing

European Journal for Person Centered Healthcare, Sep 26, 2017

Understanding causation is complex, especially where it involves 'the person'. Advances in physio... more Understanding causation is complex, especially where it involves 'the person'. Advances in physiological, psycho-social understanding, and associated health interventions have nevertheless been made despite this complexity but often in the face of weak comprehension of the actual causal framework of any particular disorder. One of the problems highlighted by CauseHealth and the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare is that our tools (e.g., the Scientific Method, Evidence Based Medicine, Random Control Trials) are disappointingly weak in comparison with the model of understanding to which we aspire. Research from experimental psychology

Individual differences in associative learning

Frontiers in Psychology, May 20, 2014

Dysphoric Mood States are Related to Sensitivity to Temporal Changes in Contingency

Frontiers in Psychology, 2012

A controversial finding in the field of causal learning is that mood contributes to the accuracy ... more A controversial finding in the field of causal learning is that mood contributes to the accuracy of perceptions of uncorrelated relationships. When asked to report the degree of control between an action and its outcome, people with dysphoria or depression are claimed to be more realistic in reporting non-contingency (e.g., Alloy and Abramson, 1979). The strongest evidence for this depressive realism (DR) effect is derived from data collected with experimental procedures in which the dependent variables are verbal or written ratings of contingency or cause, and, perhaps more importantly, the independent variable in these procedures may be ambiguous and difficult to define. In order to address these possible confounds, we used a two-response free-operant causal learning task in which the dependent measures were performance based. Participants were required to respond to maximize the occurrence of a temporally contiguous outcome that was programmed with different probabilities, which also varied temporally across two responses. Dysphoric participants were more sensitive to the changing outcome contingencies than controls even though they responded at a similar rate. During probe trials, in which the outcome was masked, their performance recovered more quickly than that of the control group. These data provide unexpected support for the DR hypothesis suggesting that dysphoria is associated with heightened sensitivity to temporal shifts in contingency.

SSRI enhances sensitivity to background outcomes and modulates response rates: A randomized double blind study of instrumental action and depression

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, May 1, 2016

Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have immediate effects on synaptic levels of serotonin but ... more Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have immediate effects on synaptic levels of serotonin but their therapeutic effects are often delayed. This delay has been suggested to reflect time required for new learning and therefore that SSRIs might be having effects on the learning process. We examined the effects of elevating serotonin levels, through short-term SSRI administration (escitalopram), on learning about perceptions of instrumental control. A randomised double blind procedure was used to allocate healthy people, categorised as mildly depressed (high BDI P 10: n = 76) or not depressed (low BDI 6 5: n = 78) to either a drug (escitalopram, 10 mg/7 days) or placebo control group. Following treatment, participants were trained with a simple task that involved learning the effectiveness of an instrumental action (key press) and the background context at eliciting an outcome (auditory cue) where there was no programmed contingency. The effects of the drug were (i) to moderate response rates and (ii) to enhance sensitivity to the background or context rate of occurrence of the outcome. These findings suggest that serotonin modulates learning about the long-term rate of outcomes, which supports perception of instrumental control, and that this may provide a clue to the mechanism for supporting the development of the therapeutic effects of the drug.

The relationship between mood state and perceived control in contingency learning: effects of individualist and collectivist values

Frontiers in Psychology, Sep 29, 2015

Perceived control in contingency learning is linked to psychological wellbeing with low levels of... more Perceived control in contingency learning is linked to psychological wellbeing with low levels of perceived control thought to be a cause or consequence of depression and high levels of control considered to be the hallmark of mental healthiness. However, it is not clear whether this is a universal phenomenon or whether the value that people ascribe to control influences these relationships. Here we hypothesize that values affect learning about control contingencies and influence the relationship between perceived control and symptoms of mood disorders. We tested these hypotheses with European university samples who were categorized as endorsing (or not) values relevant to control-individualist and collectivist values. Three online experimental contingency learning studies (N 1 = 127, N 2 = 324, N 3 = 272) were carried out. Evidence suggested that individualist values influenced basic learning processes via an effect on learning about the context in which events took place. Participants who endorsed individualist values made control judgments that were more in line with an elemental associative learning model, whilst those who were ambivalent about individualist values made judgments that were more consistent with a configural process. High levels of perceived control and individualist values were directly associated with increased euphoric symptoms of bipolar disorder, and such values completely mediated the relation between perceived control and symptoms. The effect of low perceived control on depression was moderated by collectivist values. Anxiety created by dissonance between values and task may be a catalyst for developing mood symptoms. Conclusions are that values play a significant intermediary role in the relation between perceived control and symptoms of mood disturbance.

Two pathways to causal control: Use and availability of information in the environment in people with and without signs of depression

Acta Psychologica, May 1, 2015

Perceiving one's causal control is important for adaptive behavior. Studying depression and other... more Perceiving one's causal control is important for adaptive behavior. Studying depression and other individual differences has provided insight into typical as well as pathological causal processing. We set out to study factors that have been shown to distinguish those with and without signs of depression and affect perceptions of causal control: levels of behavior, the availability of outcomes and learning about the environment or context. Two experiments were carried out in which participants, scoring low and high on the Beck Depression Inventory using established cutoffs, completed a causal control task, in which outcomes occurred with a low (.25) or high probability (.75). Behavior levels were either constrained (N 1 = 73) or unconstrained (N 2 = 74). Overall, findings showed that levels of behavior influenced people's experiences of the context in which events occurred. For all participants, very high behavior levels eliminated sensitivity to levels of outcomes occurring in the environment and lead to judgments that were consistent with conditional probabilities as opposed to the experimenter programmed contingency. Thus increased behavior increased perceived control via influence on context experience. This effect was also evident for those scoring high on the BDI. Overall conclusions are that behavior and context provide two important interlinked psychological pathways to perceived control. However, situations that constrain people's ability to respond freely can prevent people with signs of depression from taking control of a situation that would otherwise be uncontrollable.

Short article: Impaired context maintenance in mild to moderately depressed students

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Apr 1, 2009

We test the hypothesis that people with depression experience difficulties in maintaining task re... more We test the hypothesis that people with depression experience difficulties in maintaining task relevant context information over longer periods of time using the AX version of the continuous performance task (AX-CPT). The AX-CPT requires that participants maintain a context cue in an active state (A) in order to respond correctly to a target cue (X) presented after a short delay. Forty non-depressed and mild to moderately depressed students completed versions of the task with short (1-s) or long (10-s) inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs). Mildly depressed participants made significantly more context dependent (BX) errors, unlike controls who made more errors on trials where good context processing would impair performance (AY). This pattern of errors was only evident in the long ISI condition suggesting poor maintenance of contextual information.

Depressive Realism and Outcome Density Bias in Contingency Judgments: The Effect of the Context and Intertrial Interval

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2005

The perception of the effectiveness of instrumental actions is influenced by depressed mood. Depr... more The perception of the effectiveness of instrumental actions is influenced by depressed mood. Depressive realism (DR) is the claim that depressed people are particularly accurate in evaluating instrumentality. In two experiments, the authors tested the DR hypothesis using an action-outcome contingency judgment task. DR effects were a function of intertrial interval length and outcome density, suggesting that depressed mood is accompanied by reduced contextual processing rather than increased judgment accuracy. The DR effect was observed only when participants were exposed to extended periods in which no actions or outcomes occurred. This implies that DR may result from an impairment in contextual processing rather than accurate but negative expectations. Therefore, DR is consistent with a cognitive distortion view of depression. Cognitive theories of depression postulate the existence of a negative self-referent cognitive bias that results in a systematic distortion of reality and, consequently, depressive symptomatology (Beck, 1967). Although considerable evidence supports this view (for detailed reviews,

Sadly not wiser

Depressive realism and the effect of intertrial interval on judgements of zero, positive, and negative contingencies

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Mar 1, 2007

In three experiments we tested how the spacing of trials during acquisition of zero, positive, an... more In three experiments we tested how the spacing of trials during acquisition of zero, positive, and negative event-outcome contingencies differentially affected depressed and nondepressed students' judgements. Experiment 1 found that nondepressed participants' judgements of zero contingencies increased with longer intertrial intervals (ITIs) but not simply longer procedure durations. Depressed groups' judgements were not sensitive to either manipulation, producing an effect known as depressive realism only with long ITIs. Experiments 2 and 3 tested predictions of Cheng's (1997) Power PC theory and the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model, that the increase in context exposure experienced during the ITI might influence judgements most with negative contingencies and least with positive contingencies. Results suggested that depressed people were less sensitive to differences in contingency and contextual exposure. Together we propose that a context-processing difference between depressed and nondepressed people removes any objective notion of "realism" that was originally employed to explain the depressive realism effect (Alloy & Abramson, 1979).

Cue competition influences biconditional discrimination

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2018

If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination... more If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.

Human latent inhibition: Problems with the stimulus exposure effect

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Mar 19, 2018

Latent inhibition (LI) is a startlingly simple effect in which preexposure of a stimulus without ... more Latent inhibition (LI) is a startlingly simple effect in which preexposure of a stimulus without consequence retards subsequent responding to a stimulus-consequence relation. The effect was first demonstrated with Pavlovian conditioning in animals and was later suggested to be a marker of human psychopathology such as schizophrenia. Individual differences in LI has supported the continued use of animal models to understand human mental health. In this review, we ask whether there is sufficient evidence to support the continued application of LI from animal models to human psychopathology because of the weak evidence for LI in humans. There is considerable variability in the methods used to assess LI, sustaining different theoretical accounts of the effects observed, which differ from the accepted accounts of LI as demonstrated in animals. The review shows that although there have been many experiments testing human LI, none provide the necessary experimental controls to support the conclusion that retarded responding is caused simply by preexposure to a stimulus, as has been demonstrated with animal models. Establishing this conflict, we set out a framework for future research.

The effect of mild depression on time discrimination

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Apr 1, 2012

Depressed mood states affect subjective perceptions of time but it is not clear whether this is d... more Depressed mood states affect subjective perceptions of time but it is not clear whether this is due to changes in the underlying timing mechanisms, such as the speed of the internal clock. In order to study depression effects on time perception, two experiments using time discrimination methods with short (<300 ms) and long (>1000 ms) durations were conducted. Student participants who were categorised as mildly depressed by their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory were less able than controls to discriminate between two longer durations but were equally able to discriminate shorter intervals. The results suggest that mildly depressed or dysphoric mood do not affect pacemaker speed. It is more likely that depression affects the ability to maintain attention to elapsing duration.

Signal–Outcome Contingency, Contiguity, and the Depressive Realism Effect

Learning about predictive contingent relationships allows a window into the underlying causal str... more Learning about predictive contingent relationships allows a window into the underlying causal structure of the environment. The alternative mightbe toworkoutthe true physicalmechanismof any caused event. For example, that flowers on fruit trees precede the arrival of fruit can be understood on the basis of a complete understanding of the ontogenesis of fruit, but even this knowledge is based on a chain of predictive contingencies. The epistemological nature of causal knowledge has been questioned for ...

Associative learning and cognition : homage to professor N. J. Mackintosh. In Memoriam (1935-2015)

The reproduction of all or part of this work is strictly prohibited without the express consent o... more

Action-Effect Contingency Judgment Tasks Foster Normative Causal Reasoning

Proceedings of the Twenty First Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2020

Causal Induction in the Presence of a Perfect Negative Cue: Contrasting Predictions from Associative and Statistical Models

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1998

Two experiments on human causal induction with multiple candidate causes are reported. Experiment... more Two experiments on human causal induction with multiple candidate causes are reported. Experiment 1 investigated the influence of a perfect preventive cause on the ratings of a less contingent cause. Whereas the Rescorla-Wagner model (RWM) and Cheng's probabilistic contrast model predict that the less contingent cause should be completely discounted, the Pearce model predicts, in most cases, an enhancement of that cause's perceived importance. Results corresponded more closely tothe predictions of the Pearce model. The predictions of both the RWM and the Pearce model rely on a constant context cue acquiring associative strength, yet no such cue was explicitly identified in the task scenario employed in Experiment 1. Experiment 2 replicated a number of key conditions of Experiment 1 with a task scenario that afforded ratings of the causal importance of the context in which the effectiveness of the discrete candidate causes was evaluated. In addition, the number of trials was ...

Superstition predicts perception of illusory control

British Journal of Psychology, 2018

Superstitions are common, yet we have little understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that bring... more Superstitions are common, yet we have little understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that bring them about. This study used a laboratory‐based analogue for superstitious beliefs that involved people monitoring the relationship between undertaking an action (pressing a button) and an outcome occurring (a light illuminating). The task was arranged such that there was no objective contingency between pressing the button and the light illuminating – the light was just as likely to illuminate whether the button was pressed or not. Nevertheless, most people rated the causal relationship between the button press and the light illuminating to be moderately positive, demonstrating an illusion of causality. This study found that the magnitude of this illusion was predicted by people's level of endorsement of common superstitious beliefs (measured using a novel Superstitious Beliefs Questionnaire), but was not associated with mood variables or their self‐rated locus of control. This obse...

The problem with explaining symptoms: The origin of biases in causal processing

European Journal for Person Centered Healthcare, 2017

Understanding causation is complex, especially where it involves ‘the person’. Advances in physio... more Understanding causation is complex, especially where it involves ‘the person’. Advances in physiological, psychosocial understanding and associated health interventions have nevertheless been made despite this complexity, but often in the face of a weak comprehension of the actual causal framework of any particular disorder. One of the problems highlighted by the CauseHealth Initiative and the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare is that our tools (e.g., the Scientific Method, Evidence-Based Medicine, Randomised Controlled Trials) are disappointingly weak in comparison with the model of understanding to which we aspire. Research from experimental psychology highlights a further constraint to our understanding; all animals have evolved neural mechanisms that solve natural causation in a manner that is similar to the scientific method. Our behaviour and thinking suffers from the same weaknesses as our methods. We will discuss experiments that have been conducted to test cau...

To neglect or integrate contingency information from outside the task frame, that is the question! Effects of depressed mood

Acta Psychologica, Jul 1, 2017

The problem with explaining symptoms: The origin of biases in causal processing

European Journal for Person Centered Healthcare, Sep 26, 2017

Understanding causation is complex, especially where it involves 'the person'. Advances in physio... more Understanding causation is complex, especially where it involves 'the person'. Advances in physiological, psycho-social understanding, and associated health interventions have nevertheless been made despite this complexity but often in the face of weak comprehension of the actual causal framework of any particular disorder. One of the problems highlighted by CauseHealth and the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare is that our tools (e.g., the Scientific Method, Evidence Based Medicine, Random Control Trials) are disappointingly weak in comparison with the model of understanding to which we aspire. Research from experimental psychology

Individual differences in associative learning

Frontiers in Psychology, May 20, 2014

Dysphoric Mood States are Related to Sensitivity to Temporal Changes in Contingency

Frontiers in Psychology, 2012

A controversial finding in the field of causal learning is that mood contributes to the accuracy ... more A controversial finding in the field of causal learning is that mood contributes to the accuracy of perceptions of uncorrelated relationships. When asked to report the degree of control between an action and its outcome, people with dysphoria or depression are claimed to be more realistic in reporting non-contingency (e.g., Alloy and Abramson, 1979). The strongest evidence for this depressive realism (DR) effect is derived from data collected with experimental procedures in which the dependent variables are verbal or written ratings of contingency or cause, and, perhaps more importantly, the independent variable in these procedures may be ambiguous and difficult to define. In order to address these possible confounds, we used a two-response free-operant causal learning task in which the dependent measures were performance based. Participants were required to respond to maximize the occurrence of a temporally contiguous outcome that was programmed with different probabilities, which also varied temporally across two responses. Dysphoric participants were more sensitive to the changing outcome contingencies than controls even though they responded at a similar rate. During probe trials, in which the outcome was masked, their performance recovered more quickly than that of the control group. These data provide unexpected support for the DR hypothesis suggesting that dysphoria is associated with heightened sensitivity to temporal shifts in contingency.

SSRI enhances sensitivity to background outcomes and modulates response rates: A randomized double blind study of instrumental action and depression

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, May 1, 2016

Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have immediate effects on synaptic levels of serotonin but ... more Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have immediate effects on synaptic levels of serotonin but their therapeutic effects are often delayed. This delay has been suggested to reflect time required for new learning and therefore that SSRIs might be having effects on the learning process. We examined the effects of elevating serotonin levels, through short-term SSRI administration (escitalopram), on learning about perceptions of instrumental control. A randomised double blind procedure was used to allocate healthy people, categorised as mildly depressed (high BDI P 10: n = 76) or not depressed (low BDI 6 5: n = 78) to either a drug (escitalopram, 10 mg/7 days) or placebo control group. Following treatment, participants were trained with a simple task that involved learning the effectiveness of an instrumental action (key press) and the background context at eliciting an outcome (auditory cue) where there was no programmed contingency. The effects of the drug were (i) to moderate response rates and (ii) to enhance sensitivity to the background or context rate of occurrence of the outcome. These findings suggest that serotonin modulates learning about the long-term rate of outcomes, which supports perception of instrumental control, and that this may provide a clue to the mechanism for supporting the development of the therapeutic effects of the drug.

The relationship between mood state and perceived control in contingency learning: effects of individualist and collectivist values

Frontiers in Psychology, Sep 29, 2015

Perceived control in contingency learning is linked to psychological wellbeing with low levels of... more Perceived control in contingency learning is linked to psychological wellbeing with low levels of perceived control thought to be a cause or consequence of depression and high levels of control considered to be the hallmark of mental healthiness. However, it is not clear whether this is a universal phenomenon or whether the value that people ascribe to control influences these relationships. Here we hypothesize that values affect learning about control contingencies and influence the relationship between perceived control and symptoms of mood disorders. We tested these hypotheses with European university samples who were categorized as endorsing (or not) values relevant to control-individualist and collectivist values. Three online experimental contingency learning studies (N 1 = 127, N 2 = 324, N 3 = 272) were carried out. Evidence suggested that individualist values influenced basic learning processes via an effect on learning about the context in which events took place. Participants who endorsed individualist values made control judgments that were more in line with an elemental associative learning model, whilst those who were ambivalent about individualist values made judgments that were more consistent with a configural process. High levels of perceived control and individualist values were directly associated with increased euphoric symptoms of bipolar disorder, and such values completely mediated the relation between perceived control and symptoms. The effect of low perceived control on depression was moderated by collectivist values. Anxiety created by dissonance between values and task may be a catalyst for developing mood symptoms. Conclusions are that values play a significant intermediary role in the relation between perceived control and symptoms of mood disturbance.

Two pathways to causal control: Use and availability of information in the environment in people with and without signs of depression

Acta Psychologica, May 1, 2015

Perceiving one's causal control is important for adaptive behavior. Studying depression and other... more Perceiving one's causal control is important for adaptive behavior. Studying depression and other individual differences has provided insight into typical as well as pathological causal processing. We set out to study factors that have been shown to distinguish those with and without signs of depression and affect perceptions of causal control: levels of behavior, the availability of outcomes and learning about the environment or context. Two experiments were carried out in which participants, scoring low and high on the Beck Depression Inventory using established cutoffs, completed a causal control task, in which outcomes occurred with a low (.25) or high probability (.75). Behavior levels were either constrained (N 1 = 73) or unconstrained (N 2 = 74). Overall, findings showed that levels of behavior influenced people's experiences of the context in which events occurred. For all participants, very high behavior levels eliminated sensitivity to levels of outcomes occurring in the environment and lead to judgments that were consistent with conditional probabilities as opposed to the experimenter programmed contingency. Thus increased behavior increased perceived control via influence on context experience. This effect was also evident for those scoring high on the BDI. Overall conclusions are that behavior and context provide two important interlinked psychological pathways to perceived control. However, situations that constrain people's ability to respond freely can prevent people with signs of depression from taking control of a situation that would otherwise be uncontrollable.

Short article: Impaired context maintenance in mild to moderately depressed students

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Apr 1, 2009

We test the hypothesis that people with depression experience difficulties in maintaining task re... more We test the hypothesis that people with depression experience difficulties in maintaining task relevant context information over longer periods of time using the AX version of the continuous performance task (AX-CPT). The AX-CPT requires that participants maintain a context cue in an active state (A) in order to respond correctly to a target cue (X) presented after a short delay. Forty non-depressed and mild to moderately depressed students completed versions of the task with short (1-s) or long (10-s) inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs). Mildly depressed participants made significantly more context dependent (BX) errors, unlike controls who made more errors on trials where good context processing would impair performance (AY). This pattern of errors was only evident in the long ISI condition suggesting poor maintenance of contextual information.

Depressive Realism and Outcome Density Bias in Contingency Judgments: The Effect of the Context and Intertrial Interval

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2005

The perception of the effectiveness of instrumental actions is influenced by depressed mood. Depr... more The perception of the effectiveness of instrumental actions is influenced by depressed mood. Depressive realism (DR) is the claim that depressed people are particularly accurate in evaluating instrumentality. In two experiments, the authors tested the DR hypothesis using an action-outcome contingency judgment task. DR effects were a function of intertrial interval length and outcome density, suggesting that depressed mood is accompanied by reduced contextual processing rather than increased judgment accuracy. The DR effect was observed only when participants were exposed to extended periods in which no actions or outcomes occurred. This implies that DR may result from an impairment in contextual processing rather than accurate but negative expectations. Therefore, DR is consistent with a cognitive distortion view of depression. Cognitive theories of depression postulate the existence of a negative self-referent cognitive bias that results in a systematic distortion of reality and, consequently, depressive symptomatology (Beck, 1967). Although considerable evidence supports this view (for detailed reviews,

Sadly not wiser

Depressive realism and the effect of intertrial interval on judgements of zero, positive, and negative contingencies

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Mar 1, 2007

In three experiments we tested how the spacing of trials during acquisition of zero, positive, an... more In three experiments we tested how the spacing of trials during acquisition of zero, positive, and negative event-outcome contingencies differentially affected depressed and nondepressed students' judgements. Experiment 1 found that nondepressed participants' judgements of zero contingencies increased with longer intertrial intervals (ITIs) but not simply longer procedure durations. Depressed groups' judgements were not sensitive to either manipulation, producing an effect known as depressive realism only with long ITIs. Experiments 2 and 3 tested predictions of Cheng's (1997) Power PC theory and the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model, that the increase in context exposure experienced during the ITI might influence judgements most with negative contingencies and least with positive contingencies. Results suggested that depressed people were less sensitive to differences in contingency and contextual exposure. Together we propose that a context-processing difference between depressed and nondepressed people removes any objective notion of "realism" that was originally employed to explain the depressive realism effect (Alloy & Abramson, 1979).

Cue competition influences biconditional discrimination

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2018

If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination... more If citing, it is advised that you check and use the publisher's definitive version for pagination, volume/issue, and date of publication details. And where the final published version is provided on the Research Portal, if citing you are again advised to check the publisher's website for any subsequent corrections.

Human latent inhibition: Problems with the stimulus exposure effect

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Mar 19, 2018

Latent inhibition (LI) is a startlingly simple effect in which preexposure of a stimulus without ... more Latent inhibition (LI) is a startlingly simple effect in which preexposure of a stimulus without consequence retards subsequent responding to a stimulus-consequence relation. The effect was first demonstrated with Pavlovian conditioning in animals and was later suggested to be a marker of human psychopathology such as schizophrenia. Individual differences in LI has supported the continued use of animal models to understand human mental health. In this review, we ask whether there is sufficient evidence to support the continued application of LI from animal models to human psychopathology because of the weak evidence for LI in humans. There is considerable variability in the methods used to assess LI, sustaining different theoretical accounts of the effects observed, which differ from the accepted accounts of LI as demonstrated in animals. The review shows that although there have been many experiments testing human LI, none provide the necessary experimental controls to support the conclusion that retarded responding is caused simply by preexposure to a stimulus, as has been demonstrated with animal models. Establishing this conflict, we set out a framework for future research.

The effect of mild depression on time discrimination

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, Apr 1, 2012

Depressed mood states affect subjective perceptions of time but it is not clear whether this is d... more Depressed mood states affect subjective perceptions of time but it is not clear whether this is due to changes in the underlying timing mechanisms, such as the speed of the internal clock. In order to study depression effects on time perception, two experiments using time discrimination methods with short (<300 ms) and long (>1000 ms) durations were conducted. Student participants who were categorised as mildly depressed by their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory were less able than controls to discriminate between two longer durations but were equally able to discriminate shorter intervals. The results suggest that mildly depressed or dysphoric mood do not affect pacemaker speed. It is more likely that depression affects the ability to maintain attention to elapsing duration.

Signal–Outcome Contingency, Contiguity, and the Depressive Realism Effect

Learning about predictive contingent relationships allows a window into the underlying causal str... more Learning about predictive contingent relationships allows a window into the underlying causal structure of the environment. The alternative mightbe toworkoutthe true physicalmechanismof any caused event. For example, that flowers on fruit trees precede the arrival of fruit can be understood on the basis of a complete understanding of the ontogenesis of fruit, but even this knowledge is based on a chain of predictive contingencies. The epistemological nature of causal knowledge has been questioned for ...

Associative learning and cognition : homage to professor N. J. Mackintosh. In Memoriam (1935-2015)

The reproduction of all or part of this work is strictly prohibited without the express consent o... more

Action-Effect Contingency Judgment Tasks Foster Normative Causal Reasoning

Proceedings of the Twenty First Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2020

Causal Induction in the Presence of a Perfect Negative Cue: Contrasting Predictions from Associative and Statistical Models

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1998

Two experiments on human causal induction with multiple candidate causes are reported. Experiment... more Two experiments on human causal induction with multiple candidate causes are reported. Experiment 1 investigated the influence of a perfect preventive cause on the ratings of a less contingent cause. Whereas the Rescorla-Wagner model (RWM) and Cheng's probabilistic contrast model predict that the less contingent cause should be completely discounted, the Pearce model predicts, in most cases, an enhancement of that cause's perceived importance. Results corresponded more closely tothe predictions of the Pearce model. The predictions of both the RWM and the Pearce model rely on a constant context cue acquiring associative strength, yet no such cue was explicitly identified in the task scenario employed in Experiment 1. Experiment 2 replicated a number of key conditions of Experiment 1 with a task scenario that afforded ratings of the causal importance of the context in which the effectiveness of the discrete candidate causes was evaluated. In addition, the number of trials was ...

Superstition predicts perception of illusory control

British Journal of Psychology, 2018

Superstitions are common, yet we have little understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that bring... more Superstitions are common, yet we have little understanding of the cognitive mechanisms that bring them about. This study used a laboratory‐based analogue for superstitious beliefs that involved people monitoring the relationship between undertaking an action (pressing a button) and an outcome occurring (a light illuminating). The task was arranged such that there was no objective contingency between pressing the button and the light illuminating – the light was just as likely to illuminate whether the button was pressed or not. Nevertheless, most people rated the causal relationship between the button press and the light illuminating to be moderately positive, demonstrating an illusion of causality. This study found that the magnitude of this illusion was predicted by people's level of endorsement of common superstitious beliefs (measured using a novel Superstitious Beliefs Questionnaire), but was not associated with mood variables or their self‐rated locus of control. This obse...

The problem with explaining symptoms: The origin of biases in causal processing

European Journal for Person Centered Healthcare, 2017

Understanding causation is complex, especially where it involves ‘the person’. Advances in physio... more Understanding causation is complex, especially where it involves ‘the person’. Advances in physiological, psychosocial understanding and associated health interventions have nevertheless been made despite this complexity, but often in the face of a weak comprehension of the actual causal framework of any particular disorder. One of the problems highlighted by the CauseHealth Initiative and the European Society for Person Centered Healthcare is that our tools (e.g., the Scientific Method, Evidence-Based Medicine, Randomised Controlled Trials) are disappointingly weak in comparison with the model of understanding to which we aspire. Research from experimental psychology highlights a further constraint to our understanding; all animals have evolved neural mechanisms that solve natural causation in a manner that is similar to the scientific method. Our behaviour and thinking suffers from the same weaknesses as our methods. We will discuss experiments that have been conducted to test cau...