Biomedical subjects

L Manza

Publications and source records attributed to L Manza.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1995

Affective discrimination and the implicit learning process.

A modified version of the mere exposure effect paradigm was utilized in an implicit artificial grammar learning task in an attempt to develop a procedure that would be more sensitive in assesing nonconscious learning processes than the methods currently utilized within the field of implicit learning. Subjects were presented with stimuli generated from a finite-state artificial grammar and then had to either (a) decide if novel items conformed to the rule structure of the grammar or (b) rate the degree to which they liked novel items. Because the latter task was the more indirect of the two procedures, subjects' ability to discriminate between well-formed and ill-formed items on this liking task was taken as a more sensitive piece of evidence of implicit learning, compared to performance on the rule conformity task. A subsequent test of subjects' explicit knowledge of the rules of the grammar showed that subjects do have some conscious knowledge of the artificial grammar, but subjects initially making liking decisions exhibited significantly less conscious rule knowledge than subjects initially making rule-conformity judgments. The findings are discussed in relation to the synergistic relationships among implicit perception, implicit memory, and implicit learning processes.

Affect↗

PubMed1994

Implicit and explicit learning: differential effects of affective states.

Two experiments using a standard artificial grammar paradigm were conducted to examine the role of affective states, specifically anxiety and depression, on implicit learning. The main purpose was to broaden the range of human functioning explored through the application of the robustness principle in the evolutionary framework recently developed by Reber which predicts that cognitive processes which rely upon unconscious, implicit processes should be less affected by affective states than those which rely upon conscious, explicit processes. In Study 1 (N = 60), high test anxiety was associated with performance deficits in the explicit components of the task; no differences were found in the implicit phases of the task. In Study 2 (N = 160), varying levels of subclinical depression were unrelated to both implicit and explicit functioning. The contrasting findings of the two studies are discussed in terms of the differential cognitive effects and adaptive implications of these two affective states.

Affect↗

PubMed1993

The rat's preference for sucrose, polycose and their mixtures.

In one-bottle tests (30 min/day) food-deprived rats consumed significantly more 2% Polycose than 2% sucrose, and yet in two-bottle choice tests they did not consistently prefer Polycose to sucrose. A previously proposed explanation for this effect is that rats habituate, or develop oral satiety, to the flavor of sucrose more rapidly than to Polycose, and sucrose satiety generalizes to Polycose. This idea was not supported by the results of sequential 15-min one-bottle tests: the intake of 2% sucrose did not suppress subsequent Polycose intake. Instead, the failure of rats to consistently prefer Polycose to sucrose was attributed to the development of a drinking pattern that allowed the rats to mix the two solutions in their mouths. When the drinking spouts were nearby, the rats consumed similar amounts of sucrose and Polycose, but when the spouts were far apart, they consumed more Polycose than sucrose. That rats prefer the combined flavor of sucrose and Polycose to either flavor alone was confirmed in subsequent tests. Rats strongly preferred a 1% sucrose + 1% Polycose mixture to a plain 2% sucrose or 2% Polycose solution. They also preferred sucrose-Polycose mixtures to plain solutions at concentrations ranging up to 32%. The potency of the sucrose-Polycose mixture is presumably related to the activation of separate "sweet" and "polysaccharide" taste channels in the rat.

Animals↗