Mini-review: Prediction errors, attention and associative learning

Most modern theories of associative learning emphasize a critical role for prediction error (PE, the difference between received and expected events). One class of theories, exemplified by the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model, asserts that PE determines the effectiveness of the reinforcer or unconditioned stimulus (US): surprising reinforcers are more effective than expected ones. A second class, represented by the Pearce-Hall (1980) model, argues that PE determines the associability of conditioned stimuli (CSs), the rate at which they may enter into new learning: the surprising delivery or omission of a reinforcer enhances subsequent processing of the CSs that were present when PE was induced. In this mini-review we describe evidence, mostly from our laboratory, for PE-induced changes in the associability of both CSs and USs, and the brain systems involved in the coding, storage and retrieval of these altered associability values. This evidence favors a number of modifications to behavioral models of how PE influences event processing, and suggests the involvement of widespread brain systems in animals' responses to PE.