ABSTRACT
Contiguity or the pairing of events has long been recognized by learning theorists as insufficient to explain basic associative processes. In 1968, Leon Kamin described the blocking phenomenon as a demonstration of this insufficiency. Using a two-phase design, as shown in Table 4.1, Kamin conditioned a group of animals to associate a single cue with an outcome (i.e., A Æ O). In Phase 2, a second cue was paired alongside the first (i.e., AB Æ O). A second group of animals were exposed to only the latter phase. Despite the extensive pairing of Cue B and the outcome, Group 1 learned very little about B compared to Group 2 (and other relevant control groups). The initial training with A blocked conditioning to the superimposed cue and resulted in an attenuated response to B at test.
