Hugdahl K, Johnsen B H
Behav Res Ther. 1989;27(3):269-78. doi: 10.1016/0005-7967(89)90046-6.
In a review of existing theories of learning, Seligman (Psychol. Rev. 77, 406-418, 1970) suggested that humans should have an evolutionary derived preparedness to associate fear-relevant (e.g. snakes) events with aversive reinforcers. The preparedness hypothesis has been extensively tested by Ohman and his colleagues. One argument against a non-preparedness explanation for the Ohman findings has been that culturally aversive stimuli, like pictures of guns have not shown the same resistance towards extinction as pictures of snakes. However, the effect of pointing a gun directly towards the S vs pointing it to the side has not been tested. Therefore both slides of guns and snakes, directed both towards and aside from the subject, were used as conditioned stimuli (CSs) in the present study. A second question that has been discussed in the preparedness-literature is the quality of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), i.e. if only shock can act as UCS for prepared CSs. Thus, both shock and noise UCSs were used in the present study. Skin conductance responses (SCRs) were recorded as dependent measures. The results showed conditioned acquisition, i.e. larger SCRs to CS+ than to CS-, in all groups except for the shock and noise UCS groups with the gun pointing aside as CS+ (where actually larger responses were observed to the CS-, i.e. the gun pointing towards). The extinction data showed significantly larger SCRs to CS+ than to CS- for both snakes and guns directed towards the S. Strongest resistance to extinction was observed for the group with the gun pointed towards as CS+ and with noise as UCS. The gun with noise as UCS pointed towards the S was not different from the snake with shock as UCS. Taken together, the results have shown three things; (a) directing a fear-relevant CS towards the S was a potent manipulation, and especially directing a gun with noise as UCS; (b) shock was overall not superior to noise as UCS, and especially not for snake CSs; (c) a weak form of unique belongingness was demonstrated.
在对现有学习理论的综述中，塞利格曼（《心理学评论》77卷，406 - 418页，1970年）提出，人类应该具有一种进化而来的倾向，即把与恐惧相关的（如蛇）事件与厌恶强化物联系起来。奥曼及其同事对准备假设进行了广泛测试。针对对奥曼研究结果的非准备性解释的一个反对观点是，像枪支图片这样的文化厌恶刺激，对消退的抵抗能力与蛇的图片不同。然而，将枪直接指向被试与指向一侧的效果尚未得到测试。因此，在本研究中，指向被试和指向被试一侧的枪支和蛇的幻灯片都被用作条件刺激（CSs）。准备性文献中讨论的第二个问题是无条件刺激（UCS）的性质，即是否只有电击才能作为对准备好的CSs的UCS。因此，在本研究中同时使用了电击和噪音作为UCS。皮肤电导率反应（SCRs）被记录为因变量指标。结果显示，除了以指向一侧的枪作为CS +（实际上观察到对CS -，即指向被试的枪有更大反应）的电击和噪音UCS组外，所有组都出现了条件性习得，即对CS +的SCRs比对CS -的更大。消退数据显示，对于指向被试的蛇和枪，对CS +的SCRs比对CS -的显著更大。以指向被试的枪作为CS +且以噪音作为UCS的组观察到对消退的最强抵抗。以噪音作为UCS且指向被试的枪与以电击作为UCS的蛇没有差异。总体而言，结果表明了三点：（a）将与恐惧相关的CS指向被试是一种有效的操作，特别是将以噪音作为UCS的枪指向被试；（b）作为UCS，电击总体上并不优于噪音，尤其是对蛇CSs而言；（c）证明了一种弱形式的独特关联性。
