Durability of classification and action learning: differences revealed using ex-Gaussian distribution analysis

It has been shown that in associative learning it is possible to disentangle the effects caused on behaviour by the associations between a stimulus and a classification (S–C) and the associations between a stimulus and the action performed towards it (S–A). Such evidence has been provided using ex-Gaussian distribution analysis to show that different parameters of the reaction time distribution reflect the different processes. Here, using this method, we investigate another difference between these two types of associations: What is the relative durability of these associations across time? Using a task-switching paradigm and by manipulating the lag between the point of the creation of the associations and the test phase, we show that S–A associations have stronger effects on behaviour when the lag between the two repetitions of a stimulus is short. However, classification learning affects behaviour not only in short-term lags but also (and equally so) when the lag between prime and probe is long and the same stimuli are repeatedly presented within a different classification task, demonstrating a remarkable durability of S–C associations.