"Abstraktionsprozesse beim Assoziativen Lernen" (Teilprojekt A3)

01/10/2020 to 30/09/2023

Evaluative conditioning (EC) differs from typical classical conditioning (CC) paradigms with respect to various factors that may foster abstraction processes during learning, leading to more amodal as compared to modal representations of parings between a conditioned and an unconditioned stimulus. Such paradigmatic differences potentially explain why EC, but not CC, is insensitive to extinction. The present proposal identifies factors that influence abstraction processes in EC to assess their effects on indicators of modal vs. amodal representations. In a second step, we will then investigate the robustness of modal vs. amodal representations. Finally, we will examine the hypothesis that language exposure constitutes a life-long EC procedure that influences learning and judgment in experiments employing verbal material.