title: Magnitude and timing of nictitating membrane movements during classical conditioning of the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).
abstract: A trial-by-trial, subject-by-subject analysis was conducted to determine whether generation of the conditioned response (CR) occurs on a continuous or all-or-none basis. Three groups of rabbits were trained on different partial reinforcement schedules with the conditioned stimulus presented alone on 10%, 30%, or 50%, respectively, of all trials. Plots of each rabbit's nictitating membrane movements revealed that their magnitude rose in a continuous fashion. Response growth during acquisition followed a sigmoidal curve, and the timing of CR-sized movements was largely stable throughout the experiment. The results are discussed with respect to alternative models of CR generation.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. j.kehoe@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: E James
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Kehoe
authors.forename: Elliot A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Ludvig
authors.forename: Joanne E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Dudeney
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neufeld
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Sutton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D009541:Nictitating Membrane / Q000502:physiology*; D011817:Rabbits; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule