Further Evidence for Conditioning Processes in the McCollough Effect

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Abstract
McCollough effects (pattern contingent color aftereffects) were obtained in a series of three experiments designed to examine the possibility that a learning (conditioning) process underlies these effects. In Experiment 1, ordinary McCollough effects appeared after viewing adaptation patterns that were spatially separated from adaptation colors. In Experiment 2, patterns and colors were presented separately in different temporal orders during adaptation; the normal McCollough effect was obtained when adaptation patterns immediately preceeded their associated colors, but reversed McCollough effects were obtained when colors preceeded patterns. Experiment 3 demonstrated that the McCollough effect is more readily acquired on successive acquisition trials. Three practiced observers were used throughout; a fourth, a naive observer was added in Experiment 3. The results are interpreted as evidence that McCollough effects involve a learning process. The importance of learning in sensory information processing is stressed.