title: Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer: paradoxical effects of the Pavlovian relationship explained.
abstract: Four experiments with rats examined the origin of outcome-selective Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). Experiment 1 used a standard procedure, where outcomes were embedded within extended conditioned stimuli (CSs), to demonstrate the basic effect: Pavlovian stimuli augmented instrumental lever presses that had been paired with the same outcomes. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that after instrumental conditioning, whereas a conditioned stimulus (CS) trained using a backward conditioning procedure produced outcome-selective PIT, forward conditioning with a CS did not. These results are consistent with the idea that backward conditioning results in the outcome provoking its associated instrumental response during the CS and thereby allows a stimulus-response association to be acquired that directly generates outcome-selective PIT at test. Experiment 4 provided direct support for the assumptions that underlie this stimulus-response analysis. These results, and other paradoxical effects of the Pavlovian relationship, are incongruent with accounts of outcome-selective PIT that rely on a stimulus-outcome-response chain.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sabrina R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Cohen-Hatton
authors.forename: Josephine E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Haddon
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Honey
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D012201:Reward; D013997:Time Factors; D014163:Transfer, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*