Is Perruchet's dissociation between eyeblink conditioned responding and outcome expectancy evidence for two learning systems?

Gabrielle Weidemann*, Jason M. Tangen, Peter F. Lovibond, Christopher J. Mitchell

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

P. Perruchet (1985b) showed a double dissociation of conditioned responses (CRs) and expectancy for an airpuff unconditioned stimulus (US) in a 50% partial reinforcement schedule in human eyeblink conditioning. In the Perruchet effect, participants show an increase in CRs and a concurrent decrease in expectancy for the airpuff across runs of reinforced trials; conversely, participants show a decrease in CRs and a concurrent increase in expectancy for the airpuff across runs of nonreinforced trials. Three eyeblink conditioning experiments investigated whether the linear trend in eyeblink CRs in the Perruchet effect is a result of changes in associative strength of the conditioned stimulus (CS), US sensitization, or learning the precise timing of the US. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated that the linear trend in eyeblink CRs is not the result of US sensitization. Experiment 3 showed that the linear trend in eyeblink CRs is present with both a fixed and a variable CS-US interval and so is not the result of learning the precise timing of the US. The results are difficult to reconcile with a single learning process model of associative learning in which expectancy mediates CRs.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)169-176
Number of pages0
JournalJ Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process
Volume35
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2009

Keywords

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Association Learning
  • Conditioning
  • Classical
  • Eyelid
  • Euphrasia
  • Extinction
  • Psychological
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Physical Stimulation
  • Psychological Theory
  • Reinforcement Schedule
  • Reinforcement
  • Psychology
  • Young Adult

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