General guidelines
1. Always use complete sentences.
2. Don?t skip any steps in your reasoning.
3. Don?t waste words. Aim straight for the specific goals of the assignment.
4. Remember that your audience will be three of the other students in the class. Use language that will be clear to them.
In this assignment, assume that
1. the learning rate B in the Rescorla-Wagner model is 0.18, and
2. the asymptotic level L of the conditioned suppression response is 0.9.
The specific aim of this exercise is to explain how the Rescorla-Wagner model accounts for the blocking effect. You can assume the reader is familiar with the material within the attachment file(so there is no need to say this all again). This exercise has 5 sections. Give a separate paragraph to each section. Below are the guidelines for each section. In each section be sure to explain every step of your reasoning carefully (always in complete sentences, please), referring to the symbols and equations of the Rescorla-Wagner model. For clarity it helps to insert blank lines between your paragraphs. You can do this by inserting into your text the sequence < p > with the spaces removed.
In section 1, answer the question, What are the values of w1 and w2 after the first trial of conditioning phase 1 of the blocking experiment? Explain what the values of w1 and w2 are before the trial and why they take the values you say they do. Then explicitly apply the Rescorla-Wagner learning rule to figure out how w1 and w2 change as a result of this first trial. Finally, state the values that w1 and w2 have after the trial.
In section 2, answer the question, What are the values of w1 and w2 after the second trial of training phase 1? Reiterate what the values of w1 and w2 are before the trial. Then apply the Rescorla-Wagner learning rule to figure out how w1 and w2 change as a result of this second trial. Finally, state the values that w1 and w2 have after the second trial.
In section 3, answer the question, What are the values of w1 and w2 at the end of conditioning phase 1? Once again, explain as clearly as possible exactly how you arrive at your answer.
In section 4, answer the question, What are the values of w1 and w2 after the first trial of conditioning phase 2? Carefully explain your answer.
In section 5, answer the question, What are the values of w1 and w2 at the end of conditioning phase 2? Carefully explain your reasoning, and explain how this result accounts for the blocking effect.