The Roles Of Attention, Awareness, And Memory In Evaluative Conditioning

Evaluative conditioning (EC) is learning that occurs when a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) is repeatedly paired with a valenced unconditioned stimulus (US) such that the CS takes on the valence of the US. In the current investigation we were interested in investigating the combined and individual effects of attentional resources and contingency awareness on implicit and explicit EC using a disguised conditioning paradigm. We orthogonally manipulate participants’ awareness of the contingencies and attentional resources in an EC paradigm. We found mixed evidence for the necessity of higher order resources for EC. Neither orthogonally manipulated awareness nor attention had an effect on EC. Memory of the valance and identity of associations does appear to have an effect, however, on EC effects. Thus, the present research adds to the existing literature on the role of awareness and attention in evaluative conditioning.