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Unpredictability and Context Conditioning: Does the Nature of the US Matter?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2013

Ann Meulders ,
Yannick Boddez ,
Debora Vansteenwegen  and
Frank Baeyens
Ann Meulders*
Affiliation:
University of Leuven (Belgium)
Yannick Boddez
Affiliation:
University of Leuven (Belgium)
Debora Vansteenwegen
Affiliation:
University of Leuven (Belgium)
Frank Baeyens
Affiliation:
University of Leuven (Belgium)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ann Meulders. Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, box 3726. 3000 Leuven (Belgium). E-mail: ann.meulders@ppw.kuleuven.be
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Abstract

Using a conditioned suppression task, we examined the minimal conditions to establish context conditioning as induced by unpredictability of an unconditioned stimulus (US). We investigated whether a biologically significant US is necessary to produce such context conditioning effects. In this between-subjects experiment, we manipulated the nature of the US and US-unpredictability. In the Paired condition, the conditioned stimulus (CS) was always followed by the US, whereas in the Unpaired condition, the CS and the US were presented explicitly unpaired, that is, the CS was never followed by the US. Half of the participants received an aversive, biologically significant human scream, and the other half received a more neutral, biologically non-significant sound as US. Results show more contextual suppression in the Unpaired condition than in the Paired condition. We conclude that in an expectancy-based conditioning task, US-unpredictability, but not a biologically potent US, is crucial to establish context conditioning.

Keywords

unpredictabilityclassical conditioningcontext conditioningconditioned suppressionhuman scream
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 16 , 2013 , E46
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2013 

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Footnotes

This research was funded by a grant (GOA/2007/03) from the Research Council of the University of Leuven, Belgium. The authors would like to thank Jelle Mampaey and Katleen Jordens for their assistance in collecting the data.

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