Evaluative conditioning is a form of associative learning: On the artifactual nature of Field and Davey's (1997) artifactual account of evaluative learning

Field and Davey (1997) claimed that evaluative conditioning (EC), rather th an being a genuine type of Pavlovian associative learning, represents nothi ng but an experiment artifact. They come to this conclusion by first identi fying the prototypical experimental procedure of EC research, by next point ing to the potential methodological shortcomings of this prototypical proce dure in order to infer associative learning, and by finally demonstrating t hat when the appropriate controls are added to this prototypical procedure, it becomes clear that apparent EC results represent nothing but an experim ental artifact. In this paper, we first demonstrate that what Field and Dav ey identify as the "prototypical procedure" is, as a matter of fact, the ex ception rather than the rule in EC research, such that the potential scope of their criticism is rather limited. Next, we show how the results of thei r own experiment are actually due to an artifact that is not present in any EC study. Finally, we discuss how Field and Davey's criticism of EC resear ch has its roots in a misconception of the appropriate within or between su bject controls for Pavlovian associative learning. (C) 1998 Academic Press.