Extinction and blocking of conditioned inhibition in human causal learning

Deactivation and reactivation of the inhibitory power of a conditioned inhibitor: Testing the predictions of an attentional-associative model

“…Finally, the present results and those reported by Baetu and Baker (2010) showing that presentations of the inhibitor results in the extinction of its power in a summation test can possibly be explained by the strong decremental effect of nonreinforced trials on z X and X X in human contingency learning, which cannot be compensated for by a decrease in attention to the transfer excitatory CS, as in the Zimmer-Hart and Rescorla (1974) and Pearce et al (1982) studies. Supporting this interpretation, loss of inhibitory power of the inhibitor was found in rats (Ralph Miller, personal communication) following extended (300) nonreinforced presentations of the inhibitor.…”

“…Finally, and as indicated by Baetu and Baker (2010), our results are inconsistent with inferential theories of learning (De Houwer, Beckers, & Vandorpe, 2005). According to these views, just as people do not think that aspirin loses its antipyretic effects when taken in the absence of fever, inferential theories expect that X does not lose its inhibitory power during the extinction phase.…”

“…As indicated by Baetu and Baker (2010), extinction of a conditioned inhibitor is consistent with the Rescorla and Wagner (1972) associative model. However, the fact that inhibition can be reinstated following the presentation of the extinguished inhibitory CS with a novel (nonexcitatory) CS suggests that nonreinforced presentations decrease attention to the conditioned inhibitor but does not eliminate the inhibitory association.…”

“…Also, using a human contingency learning task, Baetu and Baker (2010) reported extinction of the conditioned inhibitor either when the outcome takes positive and negative values or when it takes positive values alone. In contrast, using the same task, Yarlas, Cheng, and Holyoak (1995) found no effect of extinction.…”

A Comparative Study of English and Chinese Proverbs Using Natural Semantic Metalanguage Approach

“…Proverbs thus deliver cultural knowledge and express the life experiences of human beings. Though numerous scholars have suggested that the role of language in reproducing the shared knowledge of a culture provides insight into the values and beliefs of those who utilize the language (Baetu & Baker, 2010;Caldwell & Millen, 2010), proverbs have not attracted the same degree of interest as metaphor and metonymy. Therefore, this paper is focused on investigating eastern and western cultural differences, especially in terms of folk wisdom and traditionalism, by comparing pairs of Chinese and English proverbs.…”