When All Is Still Concealed: Are We Closer to Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying Evaluative Conditioning?

Author: Field A.P.

Source: Consciousness and Cognition, Volume 10, Number 4, December 2001 , pp. 559-566(8)

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Abstract:

Fulcher and Hammerl's (2001) important exploration of the role of contingency awareness in evaluative conditioning (EC) raises a lot of issues for discussion: (1) what boundaries, if any, exist between EC and affective learning paradigms?; (2) if EC does occur without awareness does this mean it is nonpropositional learning?; (3) is EC driven by stimulus–response (S–R), rather than stimulus–stimulus (S–S), associations and if so should it then surprise us that contingency awareness is not important?; and (4) if S–R associations are at the heart of EC, should we automatically assume EC is part of a different learning mechanism to autonomic Pavlovian conditioning (Field, 2000a, 2000b)? This article, after a critical review of Fulcher and Hammerl's work, discusses these issues with reference to what can be realistically inferred about the mechanisms underlying EC. Copyright 2001 Elsevier Science (USA).

Language: English

Document Type: Editorial

Affiliations: School of Cognitive and Computing Science, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN1 9QH, United Kingdom

Publication date: 2001-12-01