The sometimes competing retrieval and Van Hamme & Wasserman models predict the selective role of within-compound associations in retrospective revaluation

The correlation between blocking and within-compound memory is stronger when compound training occurs before elemental training (i.e., backward blocking) than when the phases are reversed (i.e., forward blocking; Melchers et al., 2004, Melchers et al., 2006). This trial order effect is often interpreted as problematic for performance-focused models that assume a critical role for within-compound associations in both retrospective revaluation and traditional cue competition. The present manuscript revisits this issue using a computational modeling approach. The fit of sometimes competing retrieval (SOCR; Stout & Miller, 2007) was compared to the fit of an acquisition-focused model of retrospective revaluation and cue competition. These simulations reveal that SOCR explains this trial order effect in some situations based on its use of local error reduction.