Effects of picture valence on serial pattern learning performance in humans

Publication date: May 2019Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 66Author(s): Shannon M.A. KundeyAbstractMuch comparative work has explored humans’ and nonhuman animals’ sensitivity to sequence structure, mainly under conditions attempting to maximize learning. Conditions in an organism’s everyday reality, though, may not match these ideal circumstances. Organisms must detect and learn about how events are sequenced even when extraneous stimuli are present and/or under threat. Irrelevant information can decrease sequence learning in both humans and rats (e.g., Hersh, 1974; Kundey & Fountain, 2011; Kundey, De Los Reyes, & Taglang, 2011). Additionally, perception of threat or heightened anxiety can interfere with learning and performance in some cases (e.g., Hodges & Spielberger, 1969; Straughan & Dufort, 1969; Mueller, 1976; Mathews & MacLeod, 1986; Johns, Inzlicht, & Schmader, 2008), and tasks involving explicit learning are more susceptible to such disruption (e.g., Rathus, Reber, Manza, & Kushner, 1994; McDowall & Allison, 1995). Through two experiments, we investigated college students’ pattern learning as they were exposed to emotionally-valenced pictures. Brief exposure to negatively-valenced pictures decreased learning of patterned sequences relative to brief presentation of positively-valenced pictures or a control condition in which no pictures were presented. This suggests that the process needed to learn the pattern was disrupted by the presentation of nega...

Source: Learning and Motivation - March 16, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research