title: Rats are sensitive to ambiguity.
abstract: In the present study, we investigated response decisions made under conditions of incomplete information in rats. In Experiment 1, rats were trained on either a positive patterning (PP; A-, B-, AB+) or a negative patterning (NP; A+, B+, AB-) instrumental lever-press discrimination. Subjects that had learned an NP discrimination responded less to Cue A when Cue B was covered at test. The cover did not, however, affect test responses to Cue A in the PP condition. In Experiment 2, rats received concurrent training on both PP and NP discriminations. After concurrent training, responses to Cue A were different with B covered versus uncovered for both NP and PP discriminations. We discuss possible accounts for why exposure to a nonlinearly soluble discrimination (NP) may have affected sensitivity to cue ambiguity produced by the cover. These results have interesting implications for representational processes engaged in problem solving.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Fast
authors.forename: Aaron P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Blaisdell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D051381:Rats / Q000523:psychology*; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans / Q000523:psychology; D035501:Uncertainty