Evaluative conditioning in humans: A meta-analysis.

This article presents a meta-analysis of research on evaluative conditioning (EC), defined as a change in the liking of a stimulus (conditioned stimulus; CS) that results from pairing that stimulus with other positive or negative stimuli (unconditioned stimulus; US). Across a total of 214 studies included in the main sample, the mean EC effect was d = .52, with a 95% confidence interval of .466–.582. As estimated from a random-effects model, about 70% of the variance in effect sizes were attributable to true systematic variation rather than sampling error. Moderator analyses were conducted to partially explain this variation, both as a function of concrete aspects of the procedural implementation and as a function of the abstract aspects of the relation between CS and US. Among a range of other findings, EC effects were stronger for high than for low contingency awareness, for supraliminal than for subliminal US presentation, for postacquisition than for postextinction effects, and for self-report than for implicit measures. These findings are discussed with regard to the procedural boundary conditions of EC and theoretical accounts about the mental processes underlying EC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluative conditioning may incur attentional costs.

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to changes in the liking of an affectively neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus, or CS) after pairing this stimulus with an affect-laden stimulus (unconditioned stimulus, or US). Several authors proposed that EC incurs little or no attentional cost. Using a rigorous design, we provide evidence that a reduction in attentional resources may have a negative impact on EC. Additional analyses also revealed that participants correctly encoded fewer CS–US pairings when their attentional resources were depleted. Replicating Pleyers, Corneille, Luminet, and Yzerbyt’s (2007) findings, EC was also obtained only for CSs that could be correctly linked to their associated US in the context of an identification task. This research clarifies the role of higher order processes in EC and has significant practical implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluative conditioning and the awareness issue: Assessing contingency awareness with the Four-Picture Recognition Test.

An experiment is described that tested the moderating influence of contingency awareness on evaluative conditioning. After participants were conditioned within the picture-picture paradigm, contingency awareness was assessed by means of a recognition test (i.e., the 4-picture recognition test). Results indicate an inverse relationship between the conditioned affective reaction and contingency awareness: Only participants classified as unaware in the recognition test showed significant effects of evaluative learning. A closer inspection indicates that aware individuals stored not only the valence but also the nominal stimulus in mind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluative learning with single versus multiple unconditioned stimuli: The role of contingency awareness.

Evaluative conditioning (EC) is obtained when an initially neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) becomes evaluated positively (negatively) after being paired with an evaluatively positive (negative) unconditioned stimulus (US). Most EC studies have paired a given CS with a single US, but EC has also been obtained when a CS was paired with multiple USs of the same valence. This study compares how both variants of CS–US pairing affect awareness for CS–US pairings and ultimately EC effects. EC was assessed directly and indirectly, using evaluative ratings and the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task. Memory for US identity and US valence was assessed to investigate effects of awareness. The multiple-US condition showed attenuated EC effects compared with the single-US condition. The direct measure showed EC effects when awareness of US valence or US identity was present. The indirect measure showed EC effects only when awareness of US identity was present. Results are discussed with regard to the role of contingency awareness in EC. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Guilty by mere association: Evaluative conditioning and the spreading attitude effect.

Five experiments investigated the phenomenon that attitude formation is not confined to the co-occurrence of an attitudinal object with an evaluated experience. The pairing of a target with a (dis)liked person not only affects the evaluation of the previously neutral person but spreads to other individuals who are (pre)associated with the target (spreading attitude effect). Exps 1 and 2 provided evidence for the spreading attitude effect in appetitive as well as aversive evaluative conditioning. Exp 3 showed that the spreading attitude effect is a robust phenomenon resistant to extinction. Exp 4 demonstrated that attitude spread can be transferred to 2nd-order conditioning. Finally, Exp 5 supports the notion that the spreading attitude effect is not dependent on cognitive resources. Implications for social as well as applied psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

I Like Myself but I Don't Know Why: Enhancing Implicit Self-Esteem by Subliminal Evaluative Conditioning.

On the basis of a conceptualization of implicit self-esteem as the implicit attitude toward the self, it was predicted that implicit self-esteem could be enhanced by subliminal evaluative conditioning. In 5 experiments, participants were repeatedly presented with trials in which the word I was paired with positive trait terms. Relative to control conditions, this procedure enhanced implicit self-esteem. The effects generalized across 3 measures of implicit self-esteem (Experiments 1-3). Furthermore, evaluative conditioning enhanced implicit self-esteem among people with low-temporal implicit self-esteem and among people with high-temporal implicit self-esteem (Experiment 4). In addition, it was shown that conditioning enhanced self-esteem to such an extent that it made participants insensitive to negative intelligence feedback (Experiments 5a and 5b). Various implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Association learning of likes and dislikes: A review of 25 years of research on human evaluative conditioning.

Evaluative conditioning refers to changes in the liking of a stimulus that are due to the fact that the stimulus has been paired with other, positive or negative stimuli. Although evaluative conditioning appears to be subjected to certain boundary conditions, significant evaluative conditioning effects have been obtained using a large variety of stimuli and procedures. Some data suggest that evaluative conditioning can occur under conditions that do not support other forms of Pavlovian conditioning, and several models have been proposed to account for these differences. In the present article, the authors summarize the available literature, draw conclusions where possible, and provide suggestions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Amygdalar unit activity during three learning tasks: Eyeblink classical conditioning, Pavlovian fear conditioning, and signaled avoidance conditioning.

Neural activity in central and basolateral amygdala nuclei (CeA and BLA, respectively) was recorded during delay eyeblink conditioning, Pavlovian fear conditioning, and signaled barpress avoidance. During paired training, the CeA exhibited robust learning-related excitatory activity during all 3 tasks. By contrast, the BLA exhibited minimal activity during eyeblink conditioning, while demonstrating pronounced increases in learning-related excitatory responsiveness during fear conditioning and barpress avoidance. In addition, the relative amount of amygdalar activation observed appeared to be related to the relative intensity of the unconditioned stimulus and somatic requirements of the task. Results suggest the CeA mediates the Pavlovian association between sensory stimuli and the BLA mediates the modulation of instrumental responding through the assignment of motivational value to the unconditioned stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of chlorpromazine on GSR conditioning.

Research had suggested that chlorpromazine reduces anxiety and, from another line of research, that there is a positive relationship between degree of anxiety and ease of conditioning. The present research aimed at an assessment of the combination of these findings, viz., if chlorpromazine reduces anxiety, and lowered anxiety (reduced drive) decreases the ease of obtaining a conditioned response, then GSR conditioning should decrease with patients taking chlorpromazine. The results were in the hypothesized direction. Dosage of chlorpromazine was related to decrease in conditioning ability, with a moderate dosage (275-410 mg. per day) most effective in making conditioning difficult. 15 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of assessment type on verbal ratings of conditional stimulus valence and contingency judgments: Implications for the extinction of evaluative learning.

Recent research on causal learning found (a) that causal judgments reflect either the current predictive value of a conditional stimulus (CS) or an integration across the experimental contingencies used in the entire experiment and (b) that postexperimental judgments, rather than the CS's current predictive value, are likely to reflect this integration. In the current study, the authors examined whether verbal valence ratings were subject to similar integration. Assessments of stimulus valence and contingencies responded similarly to variations of reporting requirements, contingency reversal, and extinction, reflecting either current or integrated values. However, affective learning required more trials to reflect a contingency change than did contingency judgments. The integration of valence assessments across training and the fact that affective learning is slow to reflect contingency changes can provide an alternative interpretation for researchers' previous failures to find an effect of extinction training on verbal reports of CS valence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploration of cerebellar-dependent associative learning in schizophrenia: Effects of varying and shifting interstimulus interval on eyeblink conditioning.

Eyeblink conditioning abnormalities have been reported in schizophrenia, but the extent to which these anomalies are evident across a range of delay intervals (i.e., interstimulus intervals; ISIs) is unknown. In addition, the effects of ISI shifts on learning are unknown, though such manipulations can be informative about the plasticity of cerebellar timing functions. Therefore, the primary purpose of the present study was to investigate the interactions between ISI manipulations and learning in schizophrenia. A standard delay eyeblink conditioning procedure with four different interstimulus intervals (ISIs; 250, 350, 550, 850 ms) was employed. Each eyeblink conditioning experiment was immediately followed by another with a different ISI, thus permitting the characterization of conditioned response (CR) learning at one ISI and the extent to which CRs could be generated at a different latency following an ISI shift. Collapsing across all conditions, the schizophrenia group (n = 55) had significantly fewer conditioned responses and longer onset latencies than age-matched controls (n = 55). Surprisingly, shifting to a new ISI had negligible effects on conditioned response rates in both groups. These findings contribute to evidence of robust eyeblink conditioning abnormalities in schizophrenia and suggest impaired cerebellar function, but underscore the need for more research to clarify the source of these abnormalities and their relationship to clinical manifestations of schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of conditioning method and testing method on strength of lithium-induced taste aversion learning.

Here the authors evaluated the effect of the method of conditioning (bottle or intraoral [IO] infusion) on the strength of a flavor-drug association when measured in a standard 1-bottle consumption test or when measured by IO infusion in a taste reactivity test. When tested with the bottle test in Experiment 1, rats conditioned by bottle displayed stronger taste avoidance than those conditioned by IO infusion. When tested for rejection reactions with the taste reactivity test in Experiment 2, rats conditioned by infusion displayed a stronger aversion than did rats conditioned by bottle. The results suggest that when the contextual cues of conditioning are similar at conditioning and testing, a stronger association is evident regardless of the individual specifics of each method. These results may shed light on recent reports that different neural mechanisms are involved in conditioning by active consumption and passive infusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of habituation training on compound conditioning are not reversed by an associative activation treatment.

Rats received habituation to either 2 compound flavors (AX and BY; the activation group) or a compound and an element alone (AX and Y; the habituation group). They also received additional presentations of Y alone either after (Experiment 1) or intermixed (Experiment 2) with habituation. In the habituation group, A had undergone habituation whereas B had not; in the activation group, both A and B had undergone habituation, but presenting Y alone should result in associative activation of B and that, according to G. Hall (2003), should increase B's efficacy. A supplementary experiment demonstrated that the presentation of Y does activate a representation of B. In both experiments, an aversion was established to AB, and subsequently the habituation group showed a greater aversion to B than to A. However, in neither experiment was there any indication that the activation group showed a greater aversion to B than to A. These results are inconsistent with the suggestion that the associative activation of a stimulus representation in the absence of the stimulus reverses the effects of habituation training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Supervision can be playful, too: Play therapy techniques that enhance supervision.

The use of play therapy techniques within supervision can enhance the supervisory process and in turn therapy with the client. Just as children use toys rather than words to express themselves in play therapy, so too can supervisees use play therapy techniques when words fail to express their experience or understanding of their clients. In this article, the authors focus on L. D. Borders and G. Leddick's (1987) 6 categories for supervisor intervention: learning goals, learning style, experience, developmental level, supervisor theoretical orientation, and supervisor goals for supervisee and goals for within supervision. Practical play-based experiential techniques are applied to each category and discussed in detail to facilitate application. Use of these techniques can expand the didactic framework of supervision and thereby enhance the supervisory and therapeutic processes. In addition, some attention is given to the advantages of the registered play therapist- supervisor credential obtained through the Association for Play Therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sequential and simultaneous feature positive discriminations: Occasion setting and configural learning in human Pavlovian conditioning.

Using a conditioned suppression preparation, the authors investigated sequential (X→A+/A–) versus simultaneous (XA+/A–) feature positive (FP) discrimination learning in humans. The sequential discrimination was expected to be resolved by means of a Feature X Modulated Target A–US association and the simultaneous discrimination by a feature X–US association. After sequential FP training, extinction of Feature X did not affect discriminative X→A/A responding (Experiment 1), and X transferred its modulatory ability only to new targets, B, that had also been modulated (Experiment 2). This suggests that the sequential FP discrimination indeed resulted in occasion setting. Unlike expected, Feature X Extinction did not affect discriminative XA/A responding after simultaneous FP training (Experiment 3), while at the same time Feature X did show the predicted nonselective transfer to new targets, B (Experiment 4). J. M. Pearce's (1987) configural learning theory can account for most but not all findings of Experiments 3 and 4. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modafinil and memory: Effects of modafinil on Morris water maze learning and Pavlovian fear conditioning.

Modafinil has been shown to promote wakefulness and some studies suggest the drug can improve cognitive function. Because of many similarities, the mechanism of action may be comparable to classical psychostimulants, although the exact mechanisms of modafinil's actions in wakefulness and cognitive enhancement are unknown. The current study aims to further examine the effects of modafinil as a cognitive enhancer on hippocampus-dependent memory in mice. A high dose of modafinil (75 mg/kg ip) given before training improved acquisition on a Morris water maze. When given only before testing, modafinil did not affect water maze performance. We also examined modafinil (0.075 to 75 mg/kg) on Pavlovian fear conditioning. A low dose of pretraining modafinil (0.75 mg/kg) enhanced memory of contextual fear conditioning (tested off-drug 1 week later) whereas a high dose (75 mg/kg) disrupted memory. Pretraining modafinil did not affect cued conditioning at any dose tested, and immediate posttraining modafinil had no effect on either cued or contextual fear. These results suggest that modafinil's effects of memory are more selective than amphetamine or cocaine and specific to hippocampus-dependent memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning of event sequences is based on response-effect learning: Further evidence from a serial reaction task.

Four experiments provide converging evidence that serial learning in a serial reaction task is based on response–effect learning, mediated by the learning of the relations between a response and the stimulus that follows it. In Experiment 1, the authors varied the stimulus sequence and the response–stimulus relations while holding the response sequence constant. Learning effects depended on the complexity of the response–stimulus relations but not on the stimulus–stimulus relations. In Experiment 2, transfer of serial learning from 1 stimulus sequence to another was only found when both sequences had identical response–stimulus relations. In Experiment 3, a variation of the stimulus sequence alone had no effect on serial learning, whereas in Experiment 4 learning effects increased when the response–stimulus relations but not the stimulus–stimulus relations were simplified. These findings suggest that serial learning is based on mechanisms of voluntary action control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociating the effects of automatic activation and explicit expectancy on reaction times in a simple associative learning task.

After repeated associations between two events, E1 and E2, responses to E2 can be facilitated either because participants consciously expect E2 to occur after E1 or because E1 automatically activates the response to E2, or because of both. In this article, the authors report on 4 experiments designed to pit the influence of these 2 factors against each other. The authors found that the fastest responses to a target in a reaction time paradigm occurred when automatic activation was highest and conscious expectancy lowest. These results, when considered together with previous findings indicating that, under most conditions, the relation between expectancy and reaction times is in the opposite direction, are indicative of a reversed association-an interaction pattern that J. C. Dunn and K. Kirsner (1988) demonstrated to be the only one that unambiguously points to the involvement of independent processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

CS-US preexposure effects on trace eyeblink conditioning in young rats: Potential implications for functional brain development.

Recent studies of delay eyeblink conditioning (EBC) in young rats have demonstrated different effects of various conditioned and unconditioned stimulus (CS-US) preexposure conditions on learning at different ages. The present study extends this research to trace EBC. Subjects experienced 1 of 3 preexposure conditions (paired CS-US, unpaired CS-US, or no stimuli) at either 20 or 24 days of age. Four days later, they were conditioned using either trace (Experiment 1) or delay (Experiment 2) EBC parameters. Results were similar at both ages tested. Paired preexposure facilitated acquisition of delay but not trace relative to context preexposure. Unpaired preexposure impaired acquisition of both delay and trace. These behavioral findings provide a foundation for hypotheses about the functional maturation of cerebellar, hippocampal, and entorhinal learning circuits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpreting the effects of exercise on fear conditioning: The influence of time of day.

Previous studies indicate that physical exercise improves contextual fear memory, as evidenced by increased freezing behavior when rats are returned to a training environment that was initially paired with footshock. However, freezing behavior could also be affected by fatigue, especially because rats were tested shortly after the end of the dark cycle, which is when most wheel running was likely to occur. In addition, exercise has been shown to have anxiolytic effects, further confounding interpretation of the effects of exercise on cognition when using aversive conditioning tasks. These factors were examined in the present study by comparing freezing behavior in exercising and nonexercising rats that were tested at different times in the light cycle. In addition, all rats were tested on an elevated plus maze to assess anxiety-like behavior and in an open-field apparatus to measure locomotor activity in order to directly examine interactions between freezing, anxiety-like behavior, and locomotion. Consistent with prior studies, exercising rats exhibited more context freezing than did sedentary rats when tested early in the light cycle. However, the opposite pattern of results was obtained when testing occurred late in the light cycle, an effect driven by a difference in the amount of freezing exhibited by the sedentary control groups. Indeed, the levels of context freezing exhibited by exercising rats were comparable regardless of when the rats were tested during the light cycle. These data have implications for interpreting the effects of exercise on aversive conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)