University of Sussex
Browse
DIENES_Journal_of_Experimental_Psychology_General_DEC_2019_author_copy.pdf (401.91 kB)

Evaluative conditioning of artificial grammars: evidence that subjectively-unconscious structures bias affective evaluations of novel stimuli

Download (401.91 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 20:11 authored by Razvan Jurchi?, Andrei Costea, Zoltan DienesZoltan Dienes, Mircea Miclea, Adrian Opre
Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to the acquisition of emotional valence by an initially-neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus; CS), after being paired with an emotional stimulus (unconditioned stimulus; US). An important issue regards whether, when participants are unaware of the CS-US contingency, the affective valence can generalize to new stimuli that share similarities with the CS. Previous studies have shown that generalization of EC ef-fects appears only when participants are aware of the contingencies, but we suggest that this is because (a) the contingencies typically used in these studies are salient and easy to detect consciously, and (b) the performance-based measures of awareness (so-called “ob-jective measures”), typically used in these studies, tend to overestimate the amount of available conscious knowledge. We report a preregistered study in which participants (N = 217) were exposed to letter strings generated from two complex artificial grammars that are difficult to decipher consciously. Stimuli from one grammar were paired with positive USs, while those from the other grammar were paired with negative USs. Subsequently, partici-pants evaluated new, previously-unseen, stimuli from the positively-conditioned grammar more positively than new stimuli from the negatively-conditioned grammar. Importantly, this effect appeared even when trial-by-trial subjective measures indicated lack of relevant conscious knowledge. We provide evidence for the generalization of EC effects even with-out subjective awareness of the structures that enable those generalizations.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

ISSN

0096-3445

Publisher

American Psychological Association

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2020-01-10

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-01-10

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2020-01-09

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC