| Abstract: | The authors examined whether 2 nondeclarative tasks, simple eyeblink classical conditioning (EBCC) and rotary pursuit (RP), would interfere with each other when performed simultaneously. In Experiment 1, 100 participants were assigned to 1 of 5 groups: paired EBCC/RP, unpaired EBCC/RP, paired EBCC as a single task, unpaired EBCC as a single task, and RP as a single task. Participants in the paired EBCC/RP group showed significantly greater acquisition of conditioned responses than did participants in the unpaired EBCC/RP group, and the unconditioned eyeblink response was similar in both groups. Comparisons of the paired EBCC/RP and paired EBCC-as-a-single-task groups indicated no differences in trials to criterion, but on some measures the single-task group conditioned better. Controls introduced in Experiment 2 did not change this pattern. Results provide some evidence for the lack of interference between EBCC and RP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
