Heycke Tobias, Aust Frederik, Stahl Christoph
Department of Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
R Soc Open Sci. 2017 Sep 20;4(9):160935. doi: 10.1098/rsos.160935. eCollection 2017 Sep.
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.
在评价性条件作用（EC）领域，文献中目前正在讨论两种对立的理论——命题单过程理论与双过程理论。本系列实验检验了一个关键预测，以在这两种理论之间做出裁决：双过程理论假定评价性条件作用可以在没有意识到条件刺激（CS）和无条件刺激（US）之间的关联性的情况下发生；相反，单过程命题理论假定评价性条件作用需要对CS-US关联性的意识。在一组三项研究中，我们通过非常短暂地呈现CS来实验性地操纵关联性意识，从而使其不太可能被有意识地处理。我们解决了先前关于EC的研究中存在的潜在问题，这些研究使用了阈下或接近阈限的CS，从而限制了它们的解释。在两项实验中，我们始终发现对于呈现1000毫秒的CS存在评价性条件作用效应，而对于短暂呈现的CS始终未能发现评价性条件作用效应。在第三个预先注册的实验中，我们再次发现了对于呈现1000毫秒的CS存在评价性条件作用效应的证据，并且我们发现了一些对于呈现20毫秒的CS存在评价性条件作用效应的迹象。
