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Associative learning requires associations, not propositions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2009

Frank Baeyens
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. [email protected]@[email protected]://ppw.kuleuven.be/ppw/index.htmhttp://ppw.kuleuven.be/ppw/english/http://ppw.kuleuven.be/leerpsy/
Debora Vansteenwegen
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. [email protected]@[email protected]://ppw.kuleuven.be/ppw/index.htmhttp://ppw.kuleuven.be/ppw/english/http://ppw.kuleuven.be/leerpsy/
Dirk Hermans
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. [email protected]@[email protected]://ppw.kuleuven.be/ppw/index.htmhttp://ppw.kuleuven.be/ppw/english/http://ppw.kuleuven.be/leerpsy/

Abstract

We discuss findings on evaluative conditioning (EC) that are problematic for the “conscious reasoning/propositional knowledge” account of learning, namely, dissociations between conscious beliefs and acquired (dis)liking. We next argue that, both for EC and for Pavlovian learning in general, conditioned responding cannot rationally be inferred from propositional knowledge type “CS refers to/signals US,” and that, therefore, performance cannot be explained.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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References

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