Abstract: Evaluative Conditioning (EC) refers to the transformation of affect from a positive or negative stimulus (US) to a neutral stimulus (CS) as the result of paring US with CS repeatedly. Contingency awareness refers to the knowledge of the paring rules between US and CS, and its effect on EC are still controversial. Some findings claim that contingency awareness is independent of EC, and even impede EC. However, some studies show that contingency awareness facilitates the occurrence of EC; at the same time, some findings find that the function of contingency awareness acting on EC is mediated by other variables. On the basis of all the evidences, we propose some new directions of the future research in this field including developing more accurate measurement of contingency awareness, verifying the accommodation of other variables, strengthening multi-modal studies, and exploring the processing mechanism.

Key words: evaluative conditioning, contingency awareness, contrast effect, identify awareness, valence awareness