4. Generaldiscussion
Two experiments examined effects of a posttraining revaluation treatment on PIT. The results were clear-cut. While a decrease of the reward value significantly reduced PIT, it was not affected by a reward increase. It should be noted that the value changes were equidistant (decrease/increase by 1 Euro) and thus of comparable magnitude. Furthermore, upvalua- tion of a currency increased and downvaluation decreased the instrumental response rates, respectively. Thus, there was clear evidence that the revaluation treatments were effective. Nevertheless, only devaluation changed PIT, suggesting that posttraining decreases and increases in the reward value have asymmetrical effects on cue-instigated response tendencies.
The reduction of outcome-selective PIT after devaluation was expected based on a previous study that used a similar revaluation treatment (Allman et al., 2010). However, while PIT was reduced after outcome devaluation in the present experiment, Allman et al. found it completely eliminated. Differences in the effectiveness of the devaluation treatment may