Overshadowing and latent inhibition in nausea-based context conditioning in humans: Theoretical and practical implications |
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| Authors: | Geoffrey Hall Ursula Stockhorst Paul Enck Sibylle Klosterhalfen |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK;2. School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia;3. Institute of Psychology, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany;4. Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany;5. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany;6. Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany |
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| Abstract: | Volunteer participants underwent nausea-inducing body rotation in a distinctive context, and the acquired ability of the contextual cues to evoke nausea was subsequently assessed by a symptom rating scale. One group received prior exposure to the context (a latent inhibition procedure); a second consumed a novel flavour prior to rotation (an overshadowing procedure); a third group experienced both procedures; and a control group received neither. When tested in the context in the absence of rotation, all groups reported an increase in nausea-related symptoms at the time when rotation had previously occurred, an outcome consistent with the occurrence of conditioned nausea. The magnitude of this increase did not differ across the groups, but the overall level of responsiveness (the degree to which nausea-related symptoms were reported) was enhanced in the latent inhibition and reduced in the overshadowing condition. Cortisol levels showed the same pattern. The implications of these findings for the proposal that overshadowing and latent inhibition procedures might be used to control the development of anticipatory nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy is considered. |
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| Keywords: | Nausea Conditioning Latent inhibition Overshadowing Cancer chemotherapy |
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