Conditioning of stimuli with nonzero initial value.
In five experiments, rats received conditioning of either moderately attractive or moderately aversive flavors using either a strongly negative lithium chloride (LiCl) or a strongly positive Polycose as the reinforcer. In each case, testing was done with a compound of the two moderately valued stimuli to determine the amount of associative change produced by the pairing. In both within-subject and between-subjects designs, the amount of associative change was greater for a signal whose moderate value was opposite in valence from that of the reinforcer. This suggests that, like learned stimulus value, inherent stimulus value can modulate further associative learning.
Rescorla
Robert A
RA
Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. rescorla@psych.upenn.edu
D000818:Animals; D001244:Association; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects*; D007858:Learning; D018021:Lithium Chloride / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology
D012965:Sodium Chloride; D018021:Lithium Chloride