Latent inhibition: what is this perception of stimuli?

This phenomenon is related to our way of detecting associations between stimuli.

Classical conditioning is one of the simplest yet most powerful forms of learning known.

Within this procedure, There are several key concepts to understand the potential of this technique, and one of them is latent inhibition.. Through these lines we will understand better what it consists of and what is its importance.

What is latent inhibition?

Latent inhibition is a concept proper to classical conditioning and refers to the fact that a stimulus familiar to the subject is more complicated to convert into a conditioned stimulus or a signal in front of another one that this individual does not yet know. and is therefore neutral for him.

The key to understanding the phenomenon of latent inhibition is to stop for a moment and think about the vast amount of stimuli to which we are subjected from the time we start the day until we go to bed. Through the five senses we receive enormous amounts of data, but we are so accustomed to most of them that we do not give them the slightest importance. They are simply there.

This automatic filtering system of our brain is called latent inhibition. Therefore, if we try to condition the person using any of these stimuli, which already occur normally in their daily life, it will be difficult for them to associate it with the response we are looking for, because their perceptual system will filter it out. his perceptual system will filter it from the scheme and it will be difficult for him to establish an association with the response we are looking for..

If we did not have this mechanism, we would constantly be suffering from association processes between stimuli that would have little or nothing to do with each other, simply because they would occur in our daily life, in close time lapses, but fortunately latent inhibition acts as a protection against this hypothetical possibility of indiscriminate association, which would generate more than one headache in our daily routine.

The original study

The concept of latent inhibition was discovered by the psychologists Lubow and Moorein a study published in 1959, where they explain this phenomenon, observed in laboratory conditions. In their experiment, they divided the subjects into two groups. The first group was presented with the neutral stimulus, without being followed by any consequence.

After habituation, they began the second phase, in which both the first and second groups were presented first with the neutral stimulus (to which the first group had already been exposed, but which was novel to the second group) and then with the unconditioned stimulus. Once this was done, they compared the results of the conditioning achieved.

Indeed, their prediction came true, their prediction held true. A greater difficulty in converting the neutral stimulus into the conditioned stimulus was observed in those individuals who had been previously exposed to it, since they were already accustomed to it and therefore found it more difficult to establish the association between the two events.

On the other hand, for the subjects in the second group, conditioning was very simple, since, not knowing the neutral stimulus beforehand, latent inhibition had not been generated in them and therefore they had no problem in quickly establishing the association between the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus, thus converting the neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus.

Different theories that explain it

Once we know how the phenomenon of latent inhibition works, we could ask ourselves what is its explanation, why it happens this way, not only in humans but in numerous species of mammals in which it has been demonstrated to exist, which means that this mechanism comes from a common ancestor much earlier than all of us.

In an attempt to provide a plausible explanation for this mechanism, different theories have been put forward. One of them maintains that, after a neutral stimulus, which is not followed by any relevant consequence, our brain assigns a reduction in the associativity of that stimulus, so that it becomes secondary thereafter, reducing the attentional processes in relation to that stimulus.Therefore, it remains in the background from then on, attenuating the attentional processes in relation to that stimulus.

On the other hand, a different theory argues that in reality, when faced with the neutral stimulus, an association would be established (that nothing happens), and therefore, when presenting this stimulus to two groups, one that has perceived it before and the other that has not, before presenting the unconditioned stimulus, the first group will have a more difficult time because there is already a previous association that is now competing with the new one, while for the other group it would be more difficult because there is already a previous association that is now competing with the new one.The other group would have a unique association and therefore it would be easier for them.

High and low latent inhibition

We have already seen that latent inhibition is a very useful mechanism we have to discard all the information to which we are exposed at any given moment and which is not useful for our normal activity. for our normal activity. This is what would be considered to have a high latent inhibition, that is, it works normally and filters correctly everything that is not useful to us at that moment.

However, not all people have this ability, not all people have this ability correctly developed, and there are individuals who would have it.There are individuals who have what is known as low latent inhibition. These people, instead of discriminating between those stimuli that are useful and those that are not, do not establish any filtering and therefore process each of the stimuli that are presented to them at every moment, and we have already seen that it is a colossal amount of stimuli.

This situation obviously presents a problem for the person who suffers from it, and that is that the level of mental activity required for this titanic task is enormous. Therefore, it is not surprising that, faced with this avalanche of information, without any screening, the brain of an individual with low latent inhibition can collapse.

Not all people with this condition have the strength required for such a task, so it is important that these individuals work to improve their attention and focusing abilities, because maintaining this exhausting activity for a long time can generate from a feeling of constant frustration to more serious pathologies.

Low latent inhibition and intelligence

The good part of the problem raised in the previous point is that, if individuals with low latent inhibition manage to control this ability to focus on the stimuli that are important at that moment, they will have an important advantage over individuals with high latent inhibition, they will have an important advantage over individuals with high latent inhibition, since they will be able to pay more attention to the stimuli that are important at that moment.They will be able to pay attention to all the stimuli that are in front of them and that most people would ignore without even noticing their existence.

Imagine, for example, the work of a policeman or detective with this type of capacity, analyzing all the conditions of a crime scene, paying attention to every little detail, many of which would be almost invisible to the eyes of his colleagues with high latent inhibition. This is just one example, but the truth is that these people would have a great advantage in almost all situations.

In fact, although this phenomenon has been studied since the concept of latent inhibition as such was discovered, references to the same idea can be found in much earlier studies, such as those of the Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s, and even much earlier, in the beginnings of the Gestalt school, at the beginning of the last century.

What is important to be clear about is that, generally, people with low latent inhibition and sufficient mental fortitude to withstand this condition are people of great intellectual capacities, but this does not imply that all geniuses are geniuses. this does not imply that all geniuses have this condition, since it does not always have to be the case.This does not necessarily have to be the case in all cases. But, if we know a person with a very outstanding and special talent in some field, it is not unreasonable to think that it is an individual with a low latent inhibition.

Physiology and neuronal bases

The studies on latent inhibition also make clear other interesting facts. For example, it is demonstrated that dopamine, as well as its agonists and antagonists, have a direct effect on the individual's latent inhibition rate. of the individual. In this sense, patients with pathologies such as schizophrenia, present a low latent inhibition rate, but when they are medicated with antipsychotics, such as haloperidol, this rate is significantly increased.

This would explain, at least in part, the effect produced by this type of psychopharmaceuticals, which seem to relax the patient to an extreme and considerably reduce his attentional capacity, causing him to stop analyzing all the sensory information that reaches him, being able to focus only on those relevant stimuli.

On the contrary, if a dopamine agonist substance, such as amphetamines, is administered to a subject, we will obtain just the opposite effectThis will totally reduce the latent inhibition and generate that the person captures until the last of the stimuli that are arriving to his five senses, paying attention to each one of them, with the mental effort that this implies.

Bibliographical references:

• Daza, M.T., López, G., Álvarez, R. (2002). Experimental procedures in the study of latent inhibition in humans. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy.
• De la Casa, L.G. (2002). Latent inhibition as a procedure for analyzing attentional processing in the face of irrelevant stimuli. Journal of general and applied psychology.
• Lubow, R.E., Moore, A.U. (1959). Latent inhibition: the effect of nonreinforced pre-exposure to the conditional stimulus. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology.
• Serra, F.F., De la Casa, L.G. (1989). A theoretical review of attempts to explain the phenomenon of latent inhibition. Journal of general and applied psychology.