Differential outcomes effect under conscious and unconscious conditions
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1
University of Almeria, Psychology, Spain
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2
University of Valladolid, Psychology, Spain
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3
Bangor University, Psychology, United Kingdom
The Differential Outcomes Procedure (DOP) refers to the increased learning and retention of symbolic relations observed in conditional discrimination tasks when each correct choice is reinforced with its own unique outcome (for a review, see Mok, Estévez y Overmier, 2010; Urcuioli, 2005). In addition to the benefits of the DOP observed with conditional discrimination learning, there is an increasing amount of evidence suggesting positive effects with memory tasks as well (see López-Crespo & Estévez, 2013, for a review). In the present study we tested the usefulness of the DOP to improve the execution of a computerized visual recognition memory task involving the subliminal presentation of the stimulus to be remembered (the target) in a group of healthy adults. The results showed that compared with the standard non-differential outcomes procedure (NOP), the DOP produced better visual working memory performance when a pattern mask was presented immediately after the target. The same results were also found when the target stimuli were not masked. The implications of these findings for the theoretical accounts of the differential outcomes effect are discussed.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant (PSI2015-65248-P) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, co-funded with ERDF (FEDER) funds.
References
References
López-Crespo, G., & Estévez, A.F. (2013). Working memory improvement by the differential outcomes procedure. En S.H. Clair-Thompson (Ed.), Working memory: Developmental differences, component processes, and improvement mechanism (pp. 145-157). New-York: Nova Publishers.
Mok, L.W., Estévez, A.F. y Overmier, J.B. (2010). Unique outcome expectations as a training and pedagogical tool. Psychological Record, 60(2), 227-248
Urcuioli, P.J. (2005). Behavioral and associative effects of differential outcomes in discrimination learning. Learning & Behavior, 33, 1–21
Keywords:
differential outcomes effect,
visual memory,
Consciousness,
unconscious,
Healthy adults
Conference:
SAN2016 Meeting, Corfu, Greece, 6 Oct - 9 Oct, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation in SAN2016 Conference
Topic:
Posters
Citation:
Carmona
I,
Esteban
L,
Mari-Beffa
P and
Estévez
A
(2016). Differential outcomes effect under conscious and unconscious conditions.
Conference Abstract:
SAN2016 Meeting.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2016.220.00051
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Received:
01 Aug 2016;
Published Online:
01 Aug 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Miss. Isabel Carmona, University of Almeria, Psychology, Almeria, 04120, Spain, icl463@ual.es
PhD. Angeles F. Estévez, University of Almeria, Psychology, Almeria, 04120, Spain, mafernan@ual.es