Task schematic. Participants were tasked with viewing abstract stimuli and making an associated keyboard press (left or right arrow key) to avoid the presentation of an aversive acoustic outcome (120 trials, 40 per abstract stimulus). Following an initial learning phase, participants were told that one of the abstract stimuli was devalued, meaning it was no longer associated with an aversive outcome. Participants then completed a test phase in extinction under these devalued conditions, where they were told to keep responding to the still-valued stimulus but not the devalued stimulus; however, unbeknownst to participants, no aversive outcomes were presented during this phase (30 trials, 10 per abstract stimulus; 150 trials total).
