An extended comparator hypothesis account of superconditioning.
Three conditioned taste aversion experiments with rats investigated superconditioning. In each experiment, alternate exposures of 2 flavor compounds with a common element (i.e., AB/AS) were administered to establish an inhibitory relationship between the 2 unique elements, B and S, and prior to testing, S was paired with lithium chloride (LiCl). In Experiment 1, pairings of a neutral cue (X) with S in compound with B after the AB/AS exposures resulted in superconditioning between X and S. Extinction of the common element (A) just before the S-LiCl pairing attenuated both the inhibitory relationship between B and S (Experiment 2) and superconditioning between X and S (Experiment 3). These observations suggest that superconditioning consists of enhanced performance rather than enhanced associative acquisition.
Urushihara
Kouji
K
Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA.
Wheeler
Daniel S
DS
Pineño
Oskar
O
Miller
Ralph R
RR
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D007858:Learning; D018021:Lithium Chloride / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D011582:Psychological Theory; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D018021:Lithium Chloride