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Author (up) Klein, E.D.; Bhatt, R.S.; Zentall, T.R.
Title Contrast and the justification of effort Type Journal Article
Year 2005 Publication Psychonomic bulletin & review Abbreviated Journal Psychon Bull Rev
Volume 12 Issue 2 Pages 335-339
Keywords Awareness; *Cognition; *Discrimination (Psychology); Female; Humans; Male; Questionnaires; *Visual Perception
Abstract When humans are asked to evaluate rewards or outcomes that follow unpleasant (e.g., high-effort) events, they often assign higher value to that reward. This phenomenon has been referred to as cognitive dissonance or justification of effort. There is now evidence that a similar phenomenon can be found in nonhuman animals. When demonstrated in animals, however, it has been attributed to contrast between the unpleasant high effort and the conditioned stimulus for food. In the present experiment, we asked whether an analogous effect could be found in humans under conditions similar to those found in animals. Adult humans were trained to discriminate between shapes that followed a high-effort versus a low-effort response. In test, participants were found to prefer shapes that followed the high-effort response in training. These results suggest the possibility that contrast effects of the sort extensively studied in animals may play a role in cognitive dissonance and other related phenomena in humans.
Address University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1069-9384 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:16082815 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 223
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Author (up) Zentall, T.R.; Clement, T.S.; Bhatt, R.S.; Allen, J.
Title Episodic-like memory in pigeons Type Journal Article
Year 2001 Publication Psychonomic bulletin & review Abbreviated Journal Psychon Bull Rev
Volume 8 Issue 4 Pages 685-690
Keywords Animals; Behavior, Animal/physiology; Columbidae; Memory, Short-Term/*physiology; Teaching
Abstract It has been proposed that memory for personal experiences (episodic memory, rather than semantic memory) relies on the conscious review of past experience and thus is unique to humans. In an attempt to demonstrate episodic-like memory in animals, we first trained pigeons to respond to the (nonverbal) question “Did you just peck or did you just refrain from pecking?” by training them on a symbolic matching task with differential responding required to the two line-orientation samples and reinforcing the choice of a red comparison if they had pecked and the choice of a green comparison if they had not pecked. Then, in Experiment 1, after providing the conditions for (but not requiring) the pigeons to peck at one new stimulus (a yellow hue) but not at another (a blue hue), we tested them with the new hue stimuli and the red and green comparisons. In Experiment 2, we tested the pigeons with novel stimuli (a circle, which they spontaneously pecked, and a dark response key, which they did not peck) and the red and green comparisons. In both experiments, pigeons chose the comparison appropriate to the response made to the test stimulus. Thus, the pigeons demonstrated that they could remember specific details about their past experiences, a result consistent with the notion that they have the capacity for forming episodic-like memories.
Address Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506-0044, USA. zentall@pop.uky.edu
Corporate Author Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1069-9384 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes PMID:11848586 Approved no
Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 243
Permanent link to this record