Learning without consequence : Introducing a reliable test of stable individual differences in outcome processing and its association with callous-unemotional traits

Kary, Arthur and Beesley, Tom and Dadds, Mark and Moul, Caroline (2025) Learning without consequence : Introducing a reliable test of stable individual differences in outcome processing and its association with callous-unemotional traits. Acta Psychologica. ISSN 0001-6918 (In Press)

Abstract

Visual attention to outcomes, and their subsequent encoding, is critical for sensitive responding and adaptation of behaviour. Research into the role of outcome encoding in individual differences has been hindered by a lack of cognitive tasks that can produce a reliable, and stable, metric. This property of test-retest reliability is critical when looking to associate cognitive functions with stable individual differences in personality, and forms of psychopathology. Here we describe the results of a test-retest reliability study, and exploratory assessment of construct validity, of a novel eye-tracking, associative learning task; the Giving Gifts (GG) task. Seventy-six undergraduate students were recruited with results showing that gaze allocation to the outcome stimuli and accuracy in task performance demonstrate excellent test-retest reliability and, within a young adult sample, are significantly associated with individual difference measures, most notably, callous-unemotional traits.