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Related Experiment Videos

Unlearning a stimulus-response association.

Ling-po Shiu1, Tin-cheung Chan

  • 1Department of Educational Psychology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. lshiu@cuhk.edu.hk

Psychological Research
|April 28, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Even after learning new stimulus-response (SR) associations, previously learned ones persist. This persistence was observed in a negative priming study, indicating that old SR associations are not fully unlearned.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Investigating the persistence of learned stimulus-response (SR) associations.
  • Examining whether previously learned associations are unlearned when new responses are required for the same stimulus.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To determine if established stimulus-response (SR) associations are overwritten or persist when new associations are learned.
  • To explore the phenomenon of unlearning in the context of cognitive tasks.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a negative priming (NP) paradigm.
  • Participants engaged in a four-choice reaction time (RT) task with initial stimulus-response (SR) pairing practice.
  • A transfer phase involved switching to a new stimulus-response (SR) pairing with the same stimuli.

Main Results:

  • Transfer responses were slower when the stimulus in the preceding trial was associated with the practiced response from the training phase.
  • Negative priming (NP) effects were observed, indicating interference from previously learned associations.
  • These effects persisted even after extensive practice with the new stimulus-response (SR) pairings.

Conclusions:

  • Old stimulus-response (SR) associations remain resilient and are not fully unlearned, even when new associations are acquired.
  • The findings suggest that cognitive processes involved in learning and unlearning are complex and may involve parallel maintenance of associations.

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