The Learning of Natural Configural Strategies

The learning of natural configural strategies, strategies that match people intuitive theories about configural relationship between variables, is studied in a two-cue probability learning paradigm. The main focus is the learning of disjunctive strategy, a strategy in which response depends primarily on the high cue, and conjunctive strategy, a strategy in which response depends primarily on the low cue. We find that people learn disjunctive strategy better when the target of the prediction is human than when it is non-human, and that they learn conjunctive strategy better when the target is non-human. In addition, in a meaningful context, conjunctive strategy is learned better in the short run, but after a prolonged feedback, disjunctive strategy is learned better. In an abstract context, disjunctive strategy is learned better both in the short run and in the long run. The processes that lead to these differences in the learning of conjunctive and disjunctive strategies are discussed.