Although it is thought that within-compound associations are necessary for the occurrence of both backward blocking and unovershadowing, it is not known whether this variable plays a similar role in mediating the two phenomena. Similarly, the roles of within-compound associations in forward blocking and in reduced overshadowing have not been tested independently. The present experiments evaluated how the strength of withincompound associations affects backward blocking, unovershadowing, forward blocking, and reduced overshadowing. Using an allergy task, the strength of within-compound associations was varied by taking advantage of the participants' prior knowledge of common and uncommon food pairings. Backward blocking and unovershadowing effects were present only when highly memorable compound cues were used. Moreover, the magnitudes of both retrospective revaluation effects were affected by the strength of withincompound associations. Forward blocking and reduced overshadowing effects were independent of withincompound associations. These results have important theoretical implications for causal learning research.Keywords Backward blocking . Blocking . Causal learning . Reduced overshadowing . Unovershadowing Learning causal relations from the environment allows us to both predict and control events that are relevant for survival. It is not surprising, therefore, that the specific mechanisms that underlie causal learning have been a subject of active research during the last few decades. A family of empirical phenomena, usually described as cue-interaction effects, has played a crucial role in the experimental study of causal