The Inverse Base Rate effect (IBRE; Medin & Edelson, 1988) is a non-rational behavioral phenomenon in predictive learning. Canonically, participants learn that the AB stimulus compound leads to one outcome and that AC leads to another outcome, with AB being presented three times as often as AC. When subsequently presented with BC, the outcome associated with AC is selected preferentially, in opposition to the underlying base rates of the outcomes. While many potential explanations of the effect exist, an error-driven learning account (Kruschke, 2001b) is particularly influential. A key component of this account is prediction error, a concept previously linked to a number of brain areas including the anterior cingulate, the striatum and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The present study is the first fMRI study to directly examine the IBRE. Activations were noted in the brain areas linked to prediction error, including the caudate body, the anterior cingulate cortex and the middle frontal gyrus. Analysing the difference in activations for singular key stimuli (B and C), as well as frequency matched controls, supports the predictions made by the error-driven learning account.
Neural correlates of the inverse base rate effect
