Evidence for the role of cognitive resources in flavour–flavour evaluative conditioning

Abstract

One way that dis/likes are formed is through evaluative conditioning (EC). In two experiments we investigated the role of cognitive resources in flavour-flavour conditioning. Both experiments employed an EC procedure in which three novel flavoured conditioned stimuli (CSs) were consumed. One was consumed with a pleasant unconditioned stimulus (US; CS+ sugar), one with an aversive US (CS+ saline), and a third with plain water (CS-). Half of participants in each experiment performed a cognitive load task during conditioning. We measured EC using self-reported measures of liking (Experiments 1 and 2) and an indirect measure of liking: drink pick-up latency (Experiment 2). In both experiments, differential EC was observed in the no cognitive load condition but not in the cognitive load condition. This pattern of results was observed in self-reported measures of liking as well as in the drink pick-up latency data. Results from both experiments show that EC occurs only when there are sufficient cognitive resources available. The fact that this was observed using both self-reported and indirect measures suggests that insufficient cognitive resources affect learning itself rather than merely obstructing reporting.

Affective learning in adults with intellectual disability: an experiment using evaluative conditioning

“…Davies et al () conducted studies that illustrate the important role of working memory resources in evaluative conditioning. They examined flavour–flavour conditioning, the process by which novel neutral drinks acquire positive or negative valence as a result of pairing with pleasant (sugar) or unpleasant (salt) flavours.…”

“…The role of cognitive factors in evaluative conditioning is currently the focus of much debate. Some studies suggest that the availability of cognitive resources (Pleyers et al ; Davies et al ) and an explicit awareness of the association between stimuli (Field et al ) are necessary for evaluative conditioning to occur. In our results, while contingency awareness was limited, evaluative conditioning still occurred, even in participants with ID.…”

“…If this is the case, then evaluative conditioning should operate similarly in all individuals regardless of cognitive ability. However, recent research findings question the proposition that evaluative conditioning is automatic and rather suggests that cognitive processing plays a crucial role in the acquisition of novel preferences (Field & Moore ; Pleyers et al ; Davies et al ). The implication of two cognitive processes in particular has been studied: working memory and explicit contingency awareness.…”

Creating Brand Meaning: A Review and Research Agenda

“…Kim et al () showed that conditioning effects on brand attitudes could involve both the direct and noncognitive transfer of affect, from attractive images, as well as the cognitive formation of inferential beliefs about brand attributes, using descriptive visual images—but only participants who were aware of the pairing of the brand with the relevant image acquired the transferred belief (their Experiment 1). Many other researchers have also argued that evaluative conditioning occurs through deliberate propositional reasoning and requires attentional resources (Davies, El‐Deredy, Zandstra, & Blanchette, ) and/or “contingency awareness” (Halbeisen, Blask, Weil, & Walther, ).…”

High satiety expectations of a first course promote selection of less energy in a main course picture task

“…One possible clarification for this discrepancy could be that being so focused on expected satiety increases cognitive load, which in turn might have a negative impact on learning to estimate the correct energy content of food. Davies et al, for instance, showed that evaluative conditioning (flavour-flavour) only occurs if a person has enough cognitive resources (Davies, El-Deredy, Zandstra, & Blanchette, 2012). That is, only if participants did not have to perform an additional task, they learned to associate a novel flavour with a pleasant other taste (sugar), increasing their preference for the novel flavour.…”