Associative learning: Examining the impact of Trauma and Social Contexts

Associative learning underlies much of our everyday decision-making. Understanding the factors that impact associative learning abilities thus represents an important research aim. Childhood trauma has been shown to negatively impact associative learning, but little is known about the impact of trauma in adulthood in healthy populations, or the impact of combined childhood trauma and recent trauma. Recent research suggests that associative learning may also differ across social and non-social contexts. This study utilised a matched aversive learning task and a within-subjects design to examine the impact of self-reported childhood trauma, recent trauma, and combined childhood and recent trauma on associative learning in social and non-social contexts. 250 participants were recruited via Prolific; 192 (97 female) were included in analysis. This was a healthy community sample. Results revealed distinct contributions of self-reported childhood trauma, recent trauma, and combined...Show moreAssociative learning underlies much of our everyday decision-making. Understanding the factors that impact associative learning abilities thus represents an important research aim. Childhood trauma has been shown to negatively impact associative learning, but little is known about the impact of trauma in adulthood in healthy populations, or the impact of combined childhood trauma and recent trauma. Recent research suggests that associative learning may also differ across social and non-social contexts. This study utilised a matched aversive learning task and a within-subjects design to examine the impact of self-reported childhood trauma, recent trauma, and combined childhood and recent trauma on associative learning in social and non-social contexts. 250 participants were recruited via Prolific; 192 (97 female) were included in analysis. This was a healthy community sample. Results revealed distinct contributions of self-reported childhood trauma, recent trauma, and combined childhood and recent trauma to poorer associative learning scores. Overall associative learning performance was similar across social and non-social contexts. Combined trauma impacted associative learning scores significantly more in the non-social than social condition. This suggests qualitative differences in the processes underlying associative learning across contexts, and may illustrate strengths in navigating social uncertainty that emerge in those who experience both childhood and recent trauma. This study illustrates the potential of traumatic exposures to affect associative learning across the lifespan, and that experiences of both childhood and recent trauma may be superadditive in their impact. Recommendations for future research and appropriate designs to overcome this study's limitations are outlined.Show less

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Associative learning: Examining the impact of Trauma and Social Contexts