Learned Irrelevance: A Contemporary Overview

2003 ◽  
Vol 56 (1b) ◽  
pp. 80-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Bonardi ◽  
Siaw Yann Ong
Keyword(s):  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Latent Inhibition ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
Context Specificity ◽  
Animal Learning ◽  
Learned Irrelevance

This article reviews the recent literature on the topic of learned irrelevance. It asks whether the retardation of subsequent conditioning produced by uncorrelated preexposure is indeed the result of the animal learning that a conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) are unrelated, or whether it is better explained either as a result of the context specificity of latent inhibition, or as some other artefact of the uncorrelated schedule employed. The conclusion is that there is as yet no good evidence to support the existence of a “genuine” learned irrelevance effect.

Unmasking latent inhibition in humans

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 380-395
Author(s):  
Daniel R. L. Forrest ◽  
Marius Mather ◽  
Justin A. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Latent Inhibition ◽  
Training Phase ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Subsequent Learning ◽  
The Us ◽  
Continuous Stream

Presentations of a to-be-conditioned stimulus (CS) on its own impairs subsequent learning when that CS is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US). Evidence for this latent inhibition (LI) effect in humans is said to require a “masking task” that diverts attention from the CS during preexposure. We present three experiments that demonstrate LI in humans without masking. Subjects performed a computerised task, making speeded responses to an imperative cue (the US) presented within a continuous stream of stimuli. During preexposure, a to-be-CS was presented 20 times among other stimuli, but excluding the US. Instructions ensured subjects actively monitored all stimuli at this time. This was immediately followed by the training phase, which included the US, the preexposed CS, and a novel CS. Both CSs were reliably followed by the US, but these associations were incidental to the instructed task. Nonetheless, some subjects learned the CS-US associations, responding faster when the US followed a CS than when it was unsignalled. All three experiments also found evidence for LI, in that subjects learned the novel CS-US association sooner than the preexposed CS-US association. We conclude that humans can show LI even when actively attending to the CS during preexposure.

scholarly journals No Evaluative Conditioning Effects with Briefly Presented Stimuli

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Heycke ◽  
Christoph Stahl
Keyword(s):  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Neutral Stimulus ◽  
Evaluative Conditioning ◽  
Visual Modality ◽  
Contingency Awareness ◽  
The Us

Evaluative Conditioning (EC) changes the preference towards a formerly neutral stimulus (Conditioned Stimulus; CS), by pairing it with a valent stimulus (Unconditioned Stimulus; US), in the direction of the valence of the US. When the CS is presented subliminally (i.e., too briefly to be consciously perceived), contingency awareness between CS and US can be ruled out. Hence, EC effects with subliminal CSs would support theories claiming that contingency awareness is not necessary for EC effects to occur. Recent studies reported the absence of EC with briefly presented CSs when both CS and US were presented in the visual modality, even though the CSs were identified at above-chance levels. Challenging this finding, Heycke and colleagues (2017) found some evidence for an EC effect with briefly presented visual stimuli in a cross-modal paradigm with auditory USs, but that study did not assess CS visibility. The present study attempted to replicate this EC effect with different stimuli and a CS visibility check. Overall EC for briefly presented stimuli was absent, and results from the visibility check show that an EC effect with briefly presented CSs was only found, when the CSs were identified at above-chance levels.

Exploring the Contextual Renewal of Conditioned Attitudes After Counterconditioning

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-323
Author(s):  
Bertram Gawronski ◽  
Skylar M. Brannon ◽  
Katarina Blask ◽  
Eva Walther
Keyword(s):  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Attitude Change ◽  
Evaluative Conditioning ◽  
Verbal Information

Research on contextualized attitude change suggests that, even when coun-terattitudinal information effectively influences evaluations in the context in which this information was learned, previously formed attitudes sometimes continue to determine evaluations in any other context (contextual renewal). Expanding on evidence for contextual renewal in attitude change based on verbal information, five experiments tested the emergence of contextual renewal in evaluative conditioning, involving pairings of a conditioned stimulus with a valenced unconditioned stimulus. Counter to the notion of contextual renewal, counterconditioning changed initially conditioned attitudes to the same extent irrespective of the context. Verbal information presented with the same procedural parameters produced contextual renewal effects only when evaluations were not measured between the formation of initial attitudes and the learning of counterattitudinal information. The results suggest two previously unidentified boundary conditions of contextualized attitude change that need to be reconciled with extant theories of evaluative learning.

Effects of Pentobarbital and Isoflurane on Conditioned Learning after Transient Global Cerebral Ischemia in Rabbits

2000 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jae Young Kwon ◽  
Andreas Bacher ◽  
Donald J. Deyo ◽  
John F. Disterhoft ◽  
Tatsuo Uchida ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Ischemia ◽  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Conditioned Response ◽  
Global Cerebral Ischemia ◽  
Eyeblink Response ◽  
Trace Interval ◽  
Transient Global Cerebral Ischemia ◽  
Isoflurane Group ◽  
Conditioned Responses

Background The acquisition of a conditioned eyeblink response has been used extensively to study the neurologic substrates of learning and memory. We examined the effects of the anesthetics isoflurane and pentobarbital, or hypothermia (30 degrees C), on the ability of rabbits to acquire an eyeblink conditioned response after 6.5 min of cerebral ischemia. Methods New Zealand white rabbits (n = 48) were randomly assigned to sham, normothermic, hypothermic, isoflurane, or pentobarbital groups. In the normothermic, hypothermic, isoflurane, and pentobarbital groups, 6.5 min of global cerebral ischemia was produced. In animals randomized to the isoflurane and pentobarbital groups, a pattern of burst suppression was achieved on the electroencephalogram before the start of the ischemic episode. Animals in the hypothermia group were cooled to 30 degrees C before ischemia. Seven days after ischemia, eyeblink training was started using an audible tone presented for 100 ms as the conditioned stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus was an air puff directed at the cornea. The delay between the end of conditioned stimulus and the start of the unconditioned stimulus (the trace interval) was 300 ms in duration. A conditioned response was defined as an eyeblink that was initiated during the trace interval. Eighty trials per day and 15 days of training were delivered. Results Neurologic deficits were greatest in the normothermia group, and these animals also had fewer conditioned responses than those in the sham, hypothermia, or pentobarbital groups. Animals in the isoflurane group had an intermediate number of conditioned responses that was not significantly different from the normothermia group. Conclusions This study demonstrates that a brief episode of cerebral ischemia results in the impairment of associative learning. Hypothermia and burst-suppressive doses of pentobarbital were able to improve neurobehavioral outcome as measured by ability to acquire a trace conditioned response.

scholarly journals Social anxiety compared to depression better accounts for enhanced acquisition of self-reported anxiety toward faces paired with negative evaluation in a conditioning task

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 204380871988830
Author(s):  
Klint Fung ◽  
Lynn E. Alden
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Differential Conditioning ◽  
Negative Evaluation ◽  
Diagnostic Validity ◽  
Potential Mechanism ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Larger Sample

Previous studies have shown that social anxiety was associated with enhanced acquisition of anxiety as measured by subjective ratings in conditioning tasks using faces as the conditioned stimulus and negative evaluation as the unconditioned stimulus. However, a recent study failed to replicate the effect. The current study re-examined the enhanced acquisition effect with a larger sample, explored whether differences in expectancy of negative evaluation was a potential mechanism, and compared the contribution of social anxiety to that of depression on enhanced acquisition. Two hundred and sixty-three unselected participants took part in a differential conditioning task in which three faces each were paired with hostile, neutral, and friendly reaction during acquisition, and all three were paired with neutral reaction during extinction. Results replicated earlier findings that participant social anxiety was associated with enhanced acquisition of anxiety. Socially anxious participants did not show higher expectancy of hostile reaction during acquisition, which suggested the need to consider alternative mechanisms underlying enhanced acquisition. Depression was also associated with enhanced acquisition; however, that association was accounted for by social anxiety. The effect of social anxiety was significant over and above depression, which supported its diagnostic validity.

An Effective Paradigm for Conditioning Visual Perception in Human Subjects

Perception ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 663-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Davies ◽  
Geoffrey L Davies ◽  
Spencer Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Classical Conditioning ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Image Sequences ◽  
Mental Process ◽  
Visual Responses

Repeated pairing of an auditory conditioned stimulus with a weak visual unconditioned stimulus produced extended image sequences and visual responses conditioned to the tone alone. The experiment is set into the context of Pavlov's view of Helmholtz's “unconscious inference” thus providing experimental evidence linking the higher mental process of perception with classical conditioning.

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