TY - JOUR
T1 - Brain Indices of Nonconscious Associative Learning
AU - Wong, P. S.
AU - Bernat, E.
AU - Bunce, Scott
AU - Shevrin, H.
N1 - Funding Information:
1Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Philip S. Wong, Department of Psychology, New School for Social Research, 65 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003. E-mail: [email protected]. This research was supported in part by a grant from the Ford Motor Company to H.S. We thank Michael Snodgrass, Jennifer Stuart, and William J. Williams for their assistance in various aspects of the study. Portions of this study were presented at the 1995 meetings of the American Psychological Society and American Psychological Association in New York. 2We use the term, nonconscious, to refer to activity outside awareness that has a mental referent. Much physiological activity, of course, may not be represented mentally in any form. 519
PY - 1997/12
Y1 - 1997/12
N2 - Using a classical conditioning technique, this study investigated whether nonconscious associative learning could be indexed by event-related brain activity (ERP). There were three phases. In a preconditioning baseline phase, pleasant and unpleasant facial schematics were presented in awareness (suprathreshold). A conditioning phase followed, in which stimuli were presented outside awareness (subthreshold, via energy masking), with an unpleasant face (CS+) linked to an aversive shock and a pleasant face (CS-) not linked to a shock. The third, postconditioning phase, involved stimulus presentations in awareness (suprathreshold). Evidence for acquisition of a conditional response was sought by comparing suprathreshold pre- and postconditioning phases, as well as in the subthreshold conditioning phase itself. For the pre-postconditioning phase analyses, significant ERP component differences differentiating CS+ and CS- were observed for N1, P2, and especially P3. For the conditioning phase, significant differences were observed in the 100-400 ms. post-stimulus region reflecting a CS+ processing negativity. Brain activity does indeed index the acquisition of a conditional response to subthreshold stimuli. Associative learning can occur outside awareness.
AB - Using a classical conditioning technique, this study investigated whether nonconscious associative learning could be indexed by event-related brain activity (ERP). There were three phases. In a preconditioning baseline phase, pleasant and unpleasant facial schematics were presented in awareness (suprathreshold). A conditioning phase followed, in which stimuli were presented outside awareness (subthreshold, via energy masking), with an unpleasant face (CS+) linked to an aversive shock and a pleasant face (CS-) not linked to a shock. The third, postconditioning phase, involved stimulus presentations in awareness (suprathreshold). Evidence for acquisition of a conditional response was sought by comparing suprathreshold pre- and postconditioning phases, as well as in the subthreshold conditioning phase itself. For the pre-postconditioning phase analyses, significant ERP component differences differentiating CS+ and CS- were observed for N1, P2, and especially P3. For the conditioning phase, significant differences were observed in the 100-400 ms. post-stimulus region reflecting a CS+ processing negativity. Brain activity does indeed index the acquisition of a conditional response to subthreshold stimuli. Associative learning can occur outside awareness.
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U2 - 10.1006/ccog.1997.0322
DO - 10.1006/ccog.1997.0322
M3 - Article
C2 - 9479483
AN - SCOPUS:0031297034
SN - 1053-8100
VL - 6
SP - 519
EP - 544
JO - Consciousness and Cognition
JF - Consciousness and Cognition
IS - 4
ER -