Temporal weighting rule and spontaneous recovery in humans

Abstract

The present study was designed to propose a model that may explain human spontaneous recovery. In the present experiment we explored whether previously learned information would be integrated by the passage of time and hence produce reappearance of the forgotten material. Accordingly, we suggest that the Temporal Weighting Rule, derived from animal foraging studies (Devenport, 1998), may be applied to the study of human spontaneous recovery. Temporal Weighting Rule assumes that experiences are remembered depending on the relative temporal distance and subjective value. Manipulations of the temporal and subjective values in humans confirm one of the main predictions of the model. Spontaneous recovery is a function of the retention interval value only when the initial learning has grater subjective value. Results showed that spontaneous recovery is closely modeled by the Temporal Weighting Rule model and suggest also that it can predict the development of spontaneous recovery in human instrumental learning tasks.