Sensory preconditioning and the Espinet effect illustrate that animals can reason about event relations. In sensory preconditioning, a combination of positive A-B and B-C relations yields a positive A-C relation. In the Espinet effect, a combination of a negative A-B relation and a positive B-C relation yields a negative A-C relation. Using analogies of Heider's balance theory of human attitudes, we predict that nonhuman animals would also infer a positive A-C relation from negative A-B and B-C relations.
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