Generalization of contextual fear as a function of familiarity: the role of within- and between-context associations.
Three experiments in rats investigated the generalization of conditioned fear from one context (B) to both a preexposed context (A) and a novel context (C). In each experiment, when the conditioning context (B) had been preexposed, there was greater generalization to context A than to context C; but when B was novel at the outset of conditioning this difference between A and C was not observed. The implications of these results for associative treatments of the development of contextual memories are evaluated.
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, 70 Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT, United Kingdom.
M D
MD
Iordanova
R C
RC
Honey
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*