ERIC Number: EJ973744
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-May
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1072-0502
EISSN: N/A
Parallel Acquisition of Awareness and Differential Delay Eyeblink Conditioning
Weidemann, Gabrielle; Antees, Cassandra
Learning & Memory, v19 n5 p201-210 May 2012
There is considerable debate about whether differential delay eyeblink conditioning can be acquired without awareness of the stimulus contingencies. Previous investigations of the relationship between differential-delay eyeblink conditioning and awareness of the stimulus contingencies have assessed awareness after the conditioning session was finished using a post-experimental questionnaire. In two experiments, the point at which contingency awareness developed during the conditioning session was estimated from a button-press measure of expectancy of the unconditioned stimulus (US). In both experiments, knowledge of the stimulus contingencies and acquisition of differential delay eyeblink conditioning developed approximately in parallel. In Experiment 1 it was shown that predicting the US facilitated eyeblink conditioning compared with predicting the eyeblink response. In Experiment 2, a masking task was used that slowed down the emergence of awareness, and it was shown that differential conditioning only occurred in participants who were able to predict the US. The current findings challenge the hypothesis that differential delay eyeblink conditioning is entirely mediated by a functionally and neurally distinct nondeclarative learning system.
Descriptors: Investigations, Conditioning, Information Processing, Brain, Eye Movements, Experiments, Comparative Analysis, Prediction, Learning Processes, Questionnaires, Feedback (Response), Stimuli, Time Factors (Learning)
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 500 Sunnyside Boulevard, Woodbury, NY 11797-2924. Tel: 800-843-4388; Tel: 516-367-8800; Fax: 516-422-4097; e-mail: cshpres@cshl.edu; Web site: http://www.learnmem.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A