A demonstration of within-subjects latent inhibition in the human: limitations and advantages

The magnitude of latent inhibition (LI) (a retardation of associative learning due to prior exposure to the conditioning stimulus) was measured in healthy volunteers using both a within- and a between-subjects version of the task. Reliable LI was demonstrated for the within-subjects paradigm (using a design that fully counter-balanced stimulus of pre-exposure) but the magnitude of the effect was smaller than for the between-subjects version. Measures of schizotypal personality were found to be associated with reduced LI for the between-subjects task, but not for the within-subjects task. We hypothesised that for the within-subjects task learning about the first stimulus-consequence association (usually that for the not pre-exposed (NPE) stimulus) primes learning about the second stimulus, thus reducing the effect of pre-exposure and restricting the range of LI scores. In turn, this restricted range of LI scores does not allow subtle differences on schizotypal personality dimensions to reveal their effect using this within-subjects paradigm. In conclusion, a within-subjects LI task has been developed which is not open to explanation in terms of differences in stimulus salience. However, the limited range of pre-exposure scores in the current within-subject paradigm may severely limit it is use as an indicator of subtle performance changes.