Vicarious Value Learning: Knowledge transfer through affective processing on a social differential outcomes task

Abstract The findings of differential outcomes training procedures in controlled stimulus-response learning settings have been explained through theorizing two processes of response control. These processes concern: i) a stimulus-response route, and, ii) an outcome expectancy route through which valuations of stimuli (typically auditory or visual) may be represented. Critically, under certain contingencies of learning, the interaction of these two processes enables a transfer of knowledge. Transfer is hypothesized to occur via implicit inference for response selection given novel stimulus-response pairings. In this article, we test this transfer of knowledge, previously only examined in individual settings, in novel social settings. We find that participants are able to achieve transfer of knowledge and suggest they achieve this through vicariously learning the differential valuations of stimuli made by the (confederate) ‘other’ involved in the task. We test this effect under two experimental conditions through manipulation of the information made available to participants observing the confederate other's choices. The results of EEG recordings are, additionally, evaluated and discussed in the context of social signalling and emotional and cognitive empathy. We also consider implications for clinical and technological social learning settings.