Abstract
After a response has been associated with a particular stimulus, would this association be “unlearned” when the circumstances call for a new response to be made to that stimulus? This question was investigated in the present study with a negative priming (NP) paradigm developed by Shiu and Kornblum (1996). In the study, participants first practiced with a particular pairing of stimuli and responses in a four-choice reaction time (RT) task. Then, in the transfer phase, they switched to a different pairing of the same set of stimuli and responses. The results showed that a transfer response was slow if this response and the stimulus in the preceding trial had been paired in the training phase. Such NP effects persisted even after extended practice with the new pairing, suggesting that the “old” stimulus–response (SR) associations remain despite acquisition of some “new” associations.
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Notes
We also did the same statistical analysis comparing type 2 trials (see the Design section) with the control condition. The type 2 trials are on average slower than the control condition by 10 ms, F(1,7) = 42.05, MSE = 63.66, p < .001. At the end of the transfer phase, the type 2 trials are slower by 3 ms, which is not significant, t(7) = 1.59, p > .05.
Of course, it may be argued that even more extended training on the new SR mapping might eliminate the NP effects more substantially. But at this point, we have to conclude that there is little evidence that the NP effects might be eliminated.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Herbert Heuer, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. This research was supported by a Direct Grant (2020397) provided by the Chinese University of Hong Kong and an RGC Grant (CUHK4191/98H) provided by the Research Grant Council of HKSAR.
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Shiu, Lp., Chan, Tc. Unlearning a stimulus–response association. Psychological Research 70, 193–199 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-004-0201-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-004-0201-x