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.
Walther
Eva
E
Department of Psychology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. walther@uni-trier.de
Nagengast
Benjamin
B
D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D014796:Visual Perception