A computer model for unconscious spread of anxiety-linked inhibition in cognitive networks

Unconscious inhibitory processes, triggered by a potential anxiety reaction, are reviewed in the context of an emerging rapprochement between psychodynamic and cognitive approaches in experimental psychology. Conditions underlying spread of inhibitory action to other cognitive networks are first exp...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral Science 1989-01, Vol.34 (1), p.16-45
Main Author: Blum, Gerald S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect
Anxiety - psychology
anxiety-linked inhibition
Behavior
Behaviorism
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
cognitive processes
Computer based modeling
Computer Simulation
Computers
Female
Humans
Hypnosis
individual organism
Inhibition (Psychology)
Mental Recall
Paired-Associate Learning
Problem Solving
Software
unconscious
Unconscious (Psychology)
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Summary:Unconscious inhibitory processes, triggered by a potential anxiety reaction, are reviewed in the context of an emerging rapprochement between psychodynamic and cognitive approaches in experimental psychology. Conditions underlying spread of inhibitory action to other cognitive networks are first explored in three tachistoscopic experiments utilizing words posthypnotically tied to a potential anxiety, pleasure, or neutral reaction. Response times of subjects, instructed to ignore those words while naming pictures or solving anagrams as quickly as possible, reveal a highly differentiated pattern of circumstances governing likelihood of inhibitory spread from anxietylinked words to target stimuli. Next a computer model is constructed to simulate cognitive processes from onset of display to eventual response, and the model is then tested for its fit to the empirical data. Finally, an illustrative study shows that a subset of computer‐generated predictions for spread of inhibitory action is verifiable experimentally.
ISSN:0005-7940
1099-1743
1932-300X
DOI:10.1002/bs.3830340103