Studies in associative interference.

Two forms of a novel paper-and-pencil encoding task were developed to measure proactive inhibition during learning when given to children and adolescents. The 2 forms of the encoding task were administered individually to 63 students referred for psychological services throughout a school district from a midwestern city. Results indicated that proactive inhibitory processes were present throughout learning and suggested that this encoding task could substitute, in special cases, for the classical verbal presentation of paired-associate materials that typically require individual administration.

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The Role of Repetition and Associative Interference in New Semantic Learning in Amnesia: A Case Experiment

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.1993.5.4.375 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 375-389 ◽

Cited By ~ 47

Author(s):

C. A. Gordon Hayman ◽

Carol A. Macdonald ◽

Endel Tulving

Keyword(s):

Semantic Information ◽

Semantic Knowledge ◽

Amnesic Patient ◽

Factual Information ◽

Associative Interference ◽

Extensive Experiment ◽

Semantic Learning ◽

Control Subjects ◽

Target Words

The question of whether globally amnesic subjects can learn new semantic (factual) information is controversial. Some students of amnesia believe that they can, others that they cannot. In this article we report an extensive experiment conducted with the amnesic patient K.C. in which we examined the role of repetition and associative interference in his learning of new semantic information. In the course of 8 study sessions distributed over 4 weeks, we taught K.C. novel, amusing definitions of 96 target words (e.g., “a talkative featherbrain—PARAKEET”). We varied systematically the degree of both pre-experimental and intraexperimental associative interference, as well as the amount of study. The results of the experiment showed that K.C. can learn new semantic knowledge, and retain it over a period as long as 30 months indistinguishably from control subjects. The results further showed that the efficacy of such learning depends critically on both repetition of the material and the absence, or minimization, of pre-experimental and intraexperimental associative interference. These findings suggest that the extent to which at least some amnesic patients can acquire and retain new semantic knowledge depends on the conditions under which learning occurs, and that unqualified statements regarding the deficiency or absence of such learning in amnesia are not justified.

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Effect of Low Body Temperature on Associative Interference in Conditioned Taste Aversion

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.100.3c.913-919 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 100 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 913-919

Author(s):

John P. Christianson ◽

James R. Misanin ◽

Mathew J. Anderson ◽

Charles F. Hinderliter

Keyword(s):

Body Temperature ◽

Unconditioned Stimulus ◽

Taste Aversion ◽

Conditioned Taste Aversion ◽

The Other ◽

Conditioned Stimuli ◽

Associative Interference ◽

Temporal Proximity ◽

Timing Mechanisms ◽

The Us

When two novel conditioned stimuli precede an unconditioned stimulus (US), the interval between the two conditioned stimuli (CS1 and CS2) influences the magnitude of the CS-US associability of each CS. As the interval between CS1 and CS2 increases, the associability of CS1 with the US decreases due to interference by CS2 and the associability of CS2 increases, given its temporal proximity to the US. Because hypothermia has been reported to increase the interval at which conditioned taste aversions can be formed, its influence was examined on the above relationship, i.e., how interference from CS2 affects the associability of CS1 with the US. Rats received a conditioned taste aversion procedure where CS1 and CS2 were presented either one after the other or separated by an 80-min. delay. For all subjects, the US or pseudo-US was presented immediately after CS2. When hypothermia was interpolated between the two flavor stimuli that were spaced 80 min. apart, CS2-interference with the CS1-US association was greatly attenuated. We propose that hypothermia modifies internal timing mechanisms such that the externally timed 80-min. CS1-CS2 interval was perceived as much shorter for rats made hypothermic. As a result of this perceived shortened inter-CS interval, CS2 produced less interference for the CS1-US association than would be expected for such a relatively long delay between CS1 and CS2.

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