Stimulus miscuing, electrodermal activity, and the allocation of processing resources

The present research investigated the effects of stimulus miscuing on electrodermal responding, dishabituation, stimulus expectancy, and the allocation of processing resources as assessed by reaction time to a secondary task probe stimulus. In both experiments, a control group received 33 S1-S2 pairings intermixed with 33 S3-alone presentations. For the experimental group, S2 was miscued by its presentation following S3 on 4 trials. Experiment 1 (N = 24) demonstrated reliable electrodermal responding when S2 was miscued by S3 and subsequent dishabituation when S2 was re-presented following S1 on the next trial. A continuous measure of S2 expectancy revealed that S2 was not expected to follow S3 on miscuing trials. On re-presentation trials, S2 was not expected to follow S1. Experiment 2 (N = 24) employed probe reaction time as the dependent variable. White noise probe stimuli of 500-ms duration were presented 300 ms following the onset of S2 on miscued trials and on re-presentation trials. Reaction time to probes presented during miscued presentations of S2 was slower in the experimental group than in the control group. Reaction time on S2 re-presentation trials was also slower in the experimental group than in the control group. The results are interpreted to indicate that both the miscuing of S2 by S3 and its re-presentation following S1 on the next trial command processing resources. The results are discussed in terms of current theories of associative learning.