title: An extended comparator hypothesis account of superconditioning.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA.
authors.forename: Kouji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Urushihara
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Wheeler
authors.forename: Oskar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pineño
authors.forename: Ralph R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D000276:Adjuvants, Immunologic; D018021:Lithium Chloride