Projects

Cued inhibition of social rejection : Toward automatically activating positive cognitive strategies

Researchers investigating long term changes have generally focused on the number of trials and training sessions needed to effectively modify or re-train a new cognitive habit (e.g. Amir, Beard, Burns, & Bomyea, 2009; Bar-Haim, 2010). I propose instead to capitalize on the well established principles of classical conditioning and cued-activation (Baldwin & Main, 2001; Baldwin & Meunier, 1999; Pavlov, 1927; Ratelle, Baldwin, & Vallerand, 2005). That is, chronic accessibility of a cognitive response may be facilitated not only by frequent use, but also by cues that repeatedly activate that response. Similar to Pavlov's use of ringing bells, I propose that cues can be associated to positive cognitive habits and that these habits can later be automatically triggered by these very cues. I also propose that cues that frequently activate these positive cognitive habits may play a critical role in maintaining the response over time.

Publications related to this project

Viau, S., Julien, A., & Dandeneau, S. (2012). L'activation d'un sentiment d'agressivité grâce à un stimulus sonore conditionné : l'importance des indices contextuels présents lors d'un rejet social, 80e congrès de l'ACFAS, Montréal, QC.

Julien, A., Viau, S., & Dandeneau, S. (2012, mars). L'activation d'un sentiment d'agressivité et de souvenirs négatifs grâce à un stimulus sonore conditionné : l'importance des indices contextuels présents lors d'un rejet social. Congrès annuel, Société Québécoise pour la Recherche en Psychologie, Sherbrooke, QC.