Re-emergence of under-selected stimuli, after the extinction of over-selected stimuli in an automated match to samples procedure

The Effect of Stimulus Salience on Over-selectivity

“…The results support this expectation, as there was a statistically significant decrease in the selection of the over-selected stimulus from Time 1 (pre-extinction) to Time 2 (post-extinction). This corroborates previous findings reported in typically developing adults (Broomfield et al, 2008a), and indicates that the extinction of the previously over-selected stimulus was successful.…”

“…The results of Experiment 3 show evidence of extinction of the previously over-selected stimulus, and also evidence of re-emergence of the previously under-selected color following this extinction. These results replicate the findings of Broomfield et al (2008a) who also found that, post-extinction, control by the previously over-selected stimulus diminished, and control by the under-selected stimulus increased.…”

“…If a problem occurs after these stages have taken place, it seems likely that, by reducing the relative importance of one of the stimuli (that is, the over-selected one), the previously learned-about, but 'inhibited', stimulus should be attributed increased importance by the comparator mechanism and, as a result, gain control over behavior. Such a result was found by Broomfield et al (2008a) and by Reed et al (2008), where it was found that when the previously over-selected stimulus was extinguished, the previously under-selected stimulus emerged to control behavior.…”

“…The comparator view would suggest that following extinction of the previously over-selected stimulus, the under-selected stimulus will reemerge to control behavior as it was attended to, and processed, originally, but, in the first test, has a weaker associative strength than the salient cue which was enough to allow expression of control over behavior (see Broomfield et al, 2008a;Reed et al, 2008). In contrast, theories focusing on attention, executive function, or memory problems, would suggest that extinction should not allow the under-selected color to emerge and control behavior as it was never fully processed to begin with.…”

“…In contrast to the suggestions of the above theories, it is possible that overselectivity is not the result of attentional problems, but may be the product of postprocessing differences in individuals with ASD compared to those without ASD (see Broomfield, McHugh, & Reed, 2008a;Reed et al, 2008). This view suggests that initial attention and learning is intact, however, post-learning problems arise in deciding which stimuli best predict the outcome of future events and, therefore, which stimuli should control behavior.…”