A RT investigation of the Perruchet effect (2)

Abstract

Within the reaction time (RT) version of the Perruchet effect a single stimulus (the conditioned stimulus, CS) is paired with a second stimulus (the unconditioned stimulus, US) on half the trials and on the other half the trials the US is not presented. Conditioned responding to the CS is typically found to dissociate from conscious expectancy for the US. This experiment is a basic replication of this effect using modified recording procedures. In this experiment there were two USs, one requiring participants to make a speeded reaction time response (goUS trials) and another the withholding of said response (nogoUS trials). Participants were required to make expectancy ratings on every trial about the likelihood of the nogoUS being presented.