Evaluative conditioning increases with temporal contiguity. The influence of stimulus order and stimulus interval on evaluative conditioning

The role of evaluatively conditioned stimuli in iconic memory

In the present study, an attempt was made to replicate results found about the influence of valence on prioritisation and decay in iconic memory. Hereby, the evaluative conditioning effect was used to induce valence for formerly neutral stimuli. The effect is gained by pairing neutral stimuli with either positive, negative, or neutral images in a conditioning phase. Afterwards, the conditioned stimuli acted as targets in an iconic memory test. In the iconic memory test, targets were presented together with seven other stimuli on a circular placement on the screen for a short time. A cue delayed by either 17, 68, 221, 493, or 1003 ms pointed at the target to be reported. Participants rated the targets before and after the conditioning phase. In addition, the affective and neutral images used in the pairing procedure were rated at the end of the experiment. While no significant change in rating could be observed for the conditioned targets, a significant effect of conditioned valence was still present in the response times and the accuracy of the iconic memory test. Participants reacted the quickest in response to a cue for positively conditioned targets compared to neutral or negatively conditioned targets. Accuracy was highest for positively conditioned targets and was lowest for negatively conditioned targets. Unlike in prior studies, slower decay of information in iconic memory for negative targets was not revealed. Further research should be conducted to identify reasons for this inconsistency.

Enjoy exercise more: The effects of dual-channel evaluative conditioning on implicit attitudes toward exercise

Researchers have been looking for effective interventions to promote physical activity due to its great impact on both physical and mental health. In two studies, the current research investigated (1) whether evaluative conditioning could increase implicit attitudes toward exercise; (2) whether dual-channel evaluative conditioning had a greater influence compared to single-channel evaluative conditioning. In Study 1, results from 32 participants (7 males, 25 females; Mage  = 19.470, SDage  = 1.174) were used to compare the audiovisual dual-channel with the visual single-channel evaluative conditioning. In Study 2, we analyzed data from 100 participants (35 males, 65 females; Mage  = 20.990, SDage  = 3.141) and compared the visual-kinesthetic dual-channel with the visual single-channel evaluative conditioning. The results showed that individuals' implicit attitudes toward exercise were more positively affected by dual-channel than single-channel evaluative conditioning.

Evaluative Conditioning: Past, Present, and Future

Evaluative conditioning (EC) research investigates changes in the evaluation of a stimulus after co-occurrence with an affective stimulus. To explain the motivation behind this research, this review begins with an overview of the history of EC research, followed by a summary of the state of the art with respect to three key questions. First, how should EC procedures be used to influence evaluation? We provide a guide based on evidence concerning the functional properties of EC effects. Second, how does the EC effect occur? We discuss the possible mediating cognitive processes and their automaticity. Third, are EC effects ubiquitous outside the lab? We discuss the evidence for the external validity of EC research. We conclude that the most important open questions pertain to the relevance of EC to everyday life and to the level of control that characterizes the processes that mediate the EC effect after people notice the stimulus co-occurrence.

The role of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in the motivational control of instrumental action

We review recent studies assessing the role of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) in the motivational control of instrumental conditioning. This evidence suggests that the BNST and central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) form a circuit that modulates the ventral tegmental area (VTA) input to the nucleus accumbens core (NAc core) to control the influence of Pavlovian cues on instrumental performance. In support of these claims, we found that activity in the oval region of BNST was increased by instrumental conditioning, as indexed by phosphorylated ERK activity (Experiment 1), but that this increase was not due to exposure to the instrumental contingency or to the instrumental outcome per se (Experiment 2). Instead, BNST activity was most significantly incremented in a test conducted when the instrumental outcome was anticipated but not delivered, suggesting a role for BNST in the motivational effects of anticipated outcomes on instrumental performance. To test this claim, we examined the effect of NMDA-induced cell body lesions of the BNST on general Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (Experiment 3). These lesions had no effect on instrumental performance or on conditioned responding during Pavlovian conditioning to either an excitory conditioned stimulus (CS) or a neutral CS (CS0) but significantly attenuated the excitatory effect of the Pavlovian CS on instrumental performance. These data are consistent with the claim that the BNST mediates the general excitatory influence of Pavlovian cues on instrumental performance and suggest BNST activity may be central to CeA-BNST modulation of a VTA-NAc core circuit in incentive motivation.

Examining the impact of distance as a contextual cue in evaluative conditioning

According to a symbolic perspective on EC, pairings constitute a relational contextual cue in the environment. It is the relationship between stimuli as cued by the pairing (i.e., pairings = similar) that determines the observed change in liking. Across five pre-registered studies (N = 747) we manipulated the absolute or relative distance between different pairs of conditioned (CS) and unconditioned stimuli (US) under the assumption that this would influence the type of relation that the pairings would cue (i.e., close = similar; far = different). In all five studies we obtained repeated and strong evidence that stimulus pairings led to changes in implicit and explicit evaluations. Although we found that these effects were moderated by absolute distance manipulations, evidence did not emerge indicating that those same effects were moderated by relative distance manipulations. These findings fail to provide strong support for a symbolic perspective on EC. We discuss the implications of our findings as well as future research in this area.

Associative Attitude Learning: A Closer Look at Evidence and How It Relates to Attitude Models

Associative attitude learning is typically viewed as a low-level process that automatically registers mere co-occurrences between stimuli, independent of their validity and relational meaning. This view invites to critically examine how attitude formation conforms to four operating conditions (i.e., unawareness, efficiency, goal independence, and uncontrollability) and two operating principles (i.e., unqualified registration of mere co-occurrences between stimuli and formation of direct stimulus–response links), which is the main purpose of the present contribution. The general discussion examines how contemporary attitude models endorse these conditions and principles. Overall, this contribution calls for (a) a nuanced understanding of the nature and scope of associative attitude learning, (b) a fine-grained understanding of how contemporary attitude models endorse conditions and principles reviewed here and find them relevant to their theorization of attitude formation, (c) a clarification of how direct and indirect evaluative measures relate to these conditions and principles, and (d) enhanced efforts in specifying contemporary attitude formation models.

Subliminal influence on preferences? A test of evaluative conditioning for brief visual conditioned stimuli using auditory unconditioned stimuli

In the field of evaluative conditioning (EC), two opposing theories-propositional single-process theory versus dual-process theory-are currently being discussed in the literature. The present set of experiments test a crucial prediction to adjudicate between these two theories: Dual-process theory postulates that evaluative conditioning can occur without awareness of the contingency between conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US); in contrast, single-process propositional theory postulates that EC requires CS-US contingency awareness. In a set of three studies, we experimentally manipulate contingency awareness by presenting the CSs very briefly, thereby rendering it unlikely to be processed consciously. We address potential issues with previous studies on EC with subliminal or near-threshold CSs that limited their interpretation. Across two experiments, we consistently found an EC effect for CSs presented for 1000 ms and consistently failed to find an EC effect for briefly presented CSs. In a third pre-registered experiment, we again found evidence for an EC effect with CSs presented for 1000 ms, and we found some indication for an EC effect for CSs presented for 20 ms.