Abstract
Schmidt et al. (2007, Consciousness and Cognition) investigated contingency learning effect using the Stroop-like paradigm, in which participant was asked to identify the color of a neutral word (e.g.. “MOVE”) in four colors. Each word appeared in one color most often in the trials (High contingency). Remains of the trials were assigned to equally other three colors (Low contingency). Response to the high contingency trials was faster than that to low contingency trials (Contingency effect). We examined the effects of contingency rations (37.5% / 50.0% / 62.5%) on contingency effect and on likelihood of learned words. Our results supported Schmidt et al.’s findings, showing that contingency effect was found in the 50.0% and 62.5% conditions, not in 37.5% condition. Interestingly, the likelihood of the learned word is higher in high contingency than in low contingency. This result suggested that the experience of contingency influences the evaluation of learned words.
