scholarly journals Unconscious Knowledge Produces Adaptive Decisions via Conscious Judgments in a Novel Instrumental Conditioning Paradigm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Răzvan Jurchiș
Keyword(s):  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Instrumental Conditioning ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Human Adaptation ◽  
Conditioned Stimuli ◽  
Unconscious Processing ◽  
Conditioning Paradigm ◽  
Subsequent Test ◽  
Artificial Grammars ◽  
Trial Participants

The demonstration of unconscious instrumental conditioning (i.e., unconsciously learning to choose stimuli that lead to rewards) is central for the tenet that unconscious learning supports human adaptation. Recent studies, using reliable subliminal conditioning procedures, have found evidence against unconscious instrumental conditioning. The present preregistered study proposes an alternative paradigm, in which unconscious processing is stimulated not by the subliminal exposure of the predictive (conditioned) stimuli, but by employing predictive regularities that are complex and difficult to detect consciously. Participants (N = 211) were exposed to letter strings that, unknown to them, were built from two complex artificial grammars: an “rewarded’’ or a “non-rewarded” grammar. On each trial, participants memorized a string, and subsequently had to discriminate the memorized string from a distractor. Correct discriminations were rewarded only when the identified string followed the rewarded grammar, but not when it followed the non-rewarded grammar. In a subsequent test phase, participants were presented with new strings from the rewarded and from the unrewarded grammar. Their task was now to directly choose the strings from the rewarded grammar, in order to collect more rewards. Employing a trial-by-trial awareness measure widely used in implicit learning, we found that participants accurately choose novel strings from the rewarded grammar when they had no conscious knowledge of the grammar. The awareness measure also showed that participants were accurate only when the unconsciously learned grammar led to conscious judgments. The present study provides an alternative to subliminal conditioning paradigms and shows evidence for unconscious instrumental conditioning.

Acquisition and Use of Mental Operators: Effects of Type of Practice

2002 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burkhard Müller ◽  
Jürgen Gehrke
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Test Performance ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Acquisition Phase ◽  
Practice Test ◽  
Subsequent Test ◽  
Use Of Knowledge

Abstract. Planning interactions with the physical world requires knowledge about operations; in short, mental operators. Abstractness of content and directionality of access are two important properties to characterize the representational units of this kind of knowledge. Combining these properties allows four classes of knowledge units to be distinguished that can be found in the literature: (a) rules, (b) mental models or schemata, (c) instances, and (d) episodes or chunks. The influence of practicing alphabet-arithmetic operators in a prognostic, diagnostic, or retrognostic way (A + 2 = ?, A? = C, or ? + 2 = C, respectively) on the use of that knowledge in a subsequent test was used to assess the importance of these dimensions. At the beginning, the retrognostic use of knowledge was worse than the prognostic use, although identical operations were involved (A + 2 = ? vs. ? - 2 = A). This disadvantage was reduced with increased practice. Test performance was best if the task and the letter pairs were the same as in the acquisition phase. Overall, the findings support theories proposing multiple representational units of mental operators. The disadvantage for the retrognosis task was recovered in the test phase, and may be evidence for the importance of the order of events independent of the order of experience.

Resistance to Extinction of Conditioned Electrodermal Responses: A Study of the Incubation Fear Hypothesis

2002 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonifacio Sandin ◽  
Paloma Chorot
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Differential Conditioning ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Conditioned Stimuli ◽  
Incubation Effect ◽  
Conditioning Paradigm ◽  
Resistance To Extinction ◽  
Undergraduate Women ◽  
Electrodermal Responses ◽  
Delay Differential

In the present study we examined Eysenck's incubation hypothesis of fear. Probability of skin conductance response (SCR) was analyzed for a sample of 79 undergraduate women, ranging in age from 18 to 25 years. Different groups of participants were conditioned to two levels of unconditioned stimuli (UCS) intensity and presented to three levels of unreinforced conditioned stimuli (CS) exposures (extinction phase) in a delay differential conditioning paradigm. The CSs were fear-relevant slides (snakes and spiders) and the UCSs were aversive tones. Analysis did not show a clear incubation effect; instead an increased resistance to extinction of SCR probability in association to the high-UCS and the short unreinforced CS presentation was evident. Findings support partially Eysenck's incubation theory of fear/anxiety.

scholarly journals Rule-based processes in generalisation and peak shift in human fear conditioning

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ola Ahmed ◽  
Peter F Lovibond
Keyword(s):  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Electric Shock ◽  
Aversive Stimulus ◽  
Conditioned Fear ◽  
Peak Shift ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Conditioned Stimuli ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Extinction Testing

Two experiments explored the role of verbalisable rules in generalisation of human differential fear conditioning with electric shock as the aversive stimulus. Two circles of different sizes served as conditioned stimuli (CS+ and CS–), before testing with a range of circle sizes. In Experiment 1, shock expectancy ratings followed a peak-shifted unimodal gradient, with maximum ratings at a test value further along the dimension from CS+ in the opposite direction to CS–. However, differentiable gradients were observed when participants were divided on the basis of the rules they reported using during the task (linear and similarity). Experiment 2 was designed to counter the contradictory feedback arising from extinction testing by removing the shock electrodes during the test phase. A more linear overall gradient was observed, and sub-groups defined by self-reported rules showed distinct gradients that were congruent with their rules. These results indicate that rule-based processes are influential in generalisation of conditioned fear along simple stimulus dimensions, and may help explain generalisation phenomena that have traditionally been attributed to automatic, similarity-based processes.

Effects of UCS Intensity and Duration of Exposure of Nonreinforced CS on Conditioned Electrodermal Responses: An Experimental Analysis of the Incubation Theory of Anxiety

1993 ◽  
Vol 73 (3_part_1) ◽  
pp. 931-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paloma Chorot ◽  
Bonifacio Sandín
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Experimental Analysis ◽  
High Intensity ◽  
Conditioned Fear ◽  
Conditioned Stimuli ◽  
Conditioning Paradigm ◽  
Conditioning Experiment ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Electrodermal Responses ◽  
Delay Differential

Eysenck's incubation theory of fear or anxiety was examined in a human Pavlovian conditioning experiment with skin-conductance responses as the dependent variable. The conditioned stimuli (CSs) were fear-relevant slides (snakes and spiders) and the unconditioned stimuli (UCSs) were aversive tones. Different groups of subjects were presented two tone intensities during the acquisition phase and three durations of nonreinforced CS (extinction phase) in a delay differential conditioning paradigm. Resistance to extinction of conditioned skin-conductance responses (conditioned fear responses) exhibited was largest for high intensity of tone and short presentations of the nonreinforced CS (CS + presented alone). The result tends to support Eysenck's incubation theory of anxiety.

Repetition Enhances the Musicality of Randomly Generated Tone Sequences

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis ◽  
Rhimmon Simchy-Gross
Keyword(s):  
Effect Size ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Exposure Phase ◽  
Music Training ◽  
Initial Exposure ◽  
Random Sequences ◽  
Aesthetic Experiences ◽  
Subsequent Test

This study investigated the role of repetition on listener response. It tested the hypothesis that repetition, in the form of looping during an exposure phase, would make random sequences of tones sound more musical when rated later during a test phase. In Experiment 1, participants without special music training rated the musicality of random sequences of tones on a Likert-like scale from 1 to 7. Experiment 2 used the highest and lowest rated sequences as stimuli. In an initial exposure phase, participants heard half these sequences presented six times in a loop, and half of them presented only once. In a subsequent test phase, they rated the musicality of each sequence. Sequences that had been repeated were rated as more musical, regardless of whether they had received a high or low musicality rating in Experiment 1, but the effect size was small. These results, although limited in some respects, support a large body of literature pointing to the importance of repetition in aesthetic experiences of music.

Contralateral transfer of inhibitory and excitatory eyelid conditioning in the rabbit

1981 ◽  
Vol 33 (1b) ◽  
pp. 45-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Pearce ◽  
Anthony Montgomery ◽  
Anthony Dickinson
Keyword(s):  
Eyelid Conditioning ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Excitatory Conditioning ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Conditioned Inhibitor ◽  
Subsequent Test ◽  
Response Systems ◽  
Different Response ◽  
Inhibition Experiment

In Experiment I, rabbits received training to establish a clicker as a conditioned inhibitor. In a subsequent test phase this stimulus was used as a signal for shock either to the eye reinforced during initial training or to the opposite eye. Learning to the clicker was slower in both conditions than in the appropriate control groups. The second experiment replicated the results of those subjects trained and tested with opposite eyes and ruled out the possibility that the slower learning was due to the effects of latent inhibition. Experiment III demonstrated that excitatory conditioning to a clicker to one eye facilitated future excitatory conditioning to that stimulus to the opposite eye. These results are consistent with the view that inhibitory and excitatory conditioning both involve the acquisition of a general, motivational conditioned response which is capable of mediating the transfer of conditioning across different response systems.

scholarly journals Automatic effects of covert practice

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110071
Author(s):  
Baptist Liefooghe ◽  
Ariane Jim ◽  
Jan De Houwer
Keyword(s):  
Motor Imagery ◽  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Congruency Effect ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Inner Speech ◽  
Practice Phase ◽  
Categorization Task ◽  
Subsequent Test ◽  
Automatic Response ◽  
Response Congruency

Automatic behaviour is supposedly underlain by the unintentional retrieval of processing episodes, which are stored during the repeated overt practice of a task or activity. In the present study, we investigated whether covertly practicing a task (e.g., repeatedly imagining responding to a stimulus) also leads to the storage of processing episodes and thus to automatic behaviour. Participants first either responded overtly or covertly to stimuli according to a first categorization task in a practice phase. We then measured the presence of automatic response-congruency effects in a subsequent test phase that involved a different categorization task but the same stimuli and responses. Our results indicate that covert practice can lead to a response-congruency effect. We conclude that covert practice can lead to automatic behaviour and discuss the different components of covert practice, such as motor imagery, visual imagery, and inner speech, that contribute to the formation of processing episodes in memory.

scholarly journals Appetitive Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer in Participants with Normal-Weight and Obesity

Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Theres Meemken ◽  
Annette Horstmann
Keyword(s):  
Normal Weight ◽  
Test Phase ◽  
Button Press ◽  
Weight Group ◽  
Subsequent Test ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Important Player ◽  
Fractal Images ◽  
Three Factor Eating Questionnaire ◽  
Enriched Environments

Altered eating behavior due to modern, food-enriched environments has a share in the recent obesity upsurge, though the exact mechanisms remain unclear. This study aims to assess whether higher weight or weight gain are related to stronger effects of external cues on motivation-driven behavior. 51 people with and without obesity completed an appetitive Pavlovian-to-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) paradigm. During training, button presses as well as presentation of fractal images resulted in three palatable and one neutral taste outcome. In the subsequent test phase, outcome-specific and general behavioral bias of the positively associated fractal images on deliberate button press were tested under extinction. While all participants showed signs of specific transfer, general transfer was not elicited. Contrary to our expectations, there was no main effect of weight group on PIT magnitude. Participants with obesity exhibited higher scores in the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire Disinhibition scale, replicating a very robust effect from previous literature. Individual Restraint scores were able to predict body-mass index (BMI) change after a three-year period. Our data indicate that PIT is an important player in how our environment influences the initiation of food intake, but its effects alone cannot explain differences in—or future development of—individual weight.

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