Effects of an extinguished CS on competition with another CS.
Three experiments were conducted using a conditioned taste aversion procedure with rats to examine the effect of nonreinforced presentations of a conditioned stimulus (CS) on its ability to compete with a target stimulus for manifest conditioned responding. Two CSs (A and B) were presented in a serial compound and then paired with the unconditioned stimulus. CS A was first paired with the US and then presented without the US (i.e., extinction) prior to reinforced presentation of the AB compound. Experiment 1 showed that A was poor at competing with B for conditioned responding when given conditioning and extinction prior to reinforcement of AB relative to a group that received both A and B for the first time during compound conditioning. That is, an extinguished A stimulus allowed greater manifest acquisition to B. Experiment 2 found that extinction treatment produced a poor CR to the pretrained and extinguished CS itself following compound conditioning. Experiment 3 found that interposing a retention interval after extinction of A and prior to compound conditioning enhanced A's ability to compete with B. The results of these experiments are discussed with regard to different theories of extinction and associative competition.
Bills
Carla H
CH
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Missouri, MO 65211, USA.
Dopheide
Marsha
M
Pineño
Oskar
O
Schachtman
Todd R
TR
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005260:Female; D018021:Lithium Chloride / Q000633:toxicity; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D013649:Taste
D018021:Lithium Chloride