Delayed One-trial Extinction of the McCollough Effect

Abstract

Initial tests of the McCollough effect were made on separate groups at delays of 4, 24 or 96 h after induction, with little apparent decrement. Subsequent tests were made at 4, 24 and 96 h after each initial test delay, again using separate subject groups in order to avoid test-induced extinction. All tests consisted of magentagreen nulling of the aftereffect. A single test session, whenever administered, seems to initiate a decay or extinction process lasting several days, resembling the time course shown by repeated testing. These results are difficult to reconcile with a perceptual conditioning model of the McCollough effect.

Conditioning and blocking of the McCollough effect

“…It is consistent with this analysis that avoiding extinction by withholding test trials has the effect of protracting the duration of the aftereffect over several months (Jones & Holding, 1975), although this result has been questioned (Skowbo, Garrity, & Michaud, 1985). The later finding that a single test trial seems to initiate a decay of constant duration (Holding & Jones, 1976) is less amenable to a simple conditioning explanation.…”

“…Repeated achromatic test presentations are unreinforced by the US, and should function as extinction trials. However, because Holding and Jones (1976) had found that extinction followed a longer time course than that explored in the present experiment, we expected little extinction to occur over the available period of 30 min. In the event, the grating and spiral effects showed minor drops; however, the combined extinction effect did not approach significance [F(1,71) = .21, p > .50).…”

Does testing initiate decay of McCollough effects?

“…The Jones and Holding (1975) experiment did not specifically test the hypothesis that a single test initiates decay; rather, this proposition was offered as a possible explanation for the results of the experiment. The focus of the Holding and Jones (1976) study was the decay that followed delayed tests. Although differences among the various group means did suggest an effect due to initial testing, no comparisons were possible between conditions equivalent except for the presence or absence of a single previous test.…”

Extraversion and the McCollough Effect

“…The first is that which occurs after adaptation and before the first test. This component is very slow, and is reflected in the reports of very long lasting MEs (Holding & Jones, 1976). The second component of decay begins from the time of first testing, rather than from the end of adaptation, and may subsequently be measured by repeated testing at regular intervals.…”