title: Evidence for within-compound learning in an instrumental conditioning with rats.
abstract: Two groups of rats were trained with a multiple schedule of avoidance and punishment in a running wheel. During the punishment component, each of the subjects' running responses were punished. In contrast, they had to run during the avoidance component of Sidman avoidance schedule, in which the response-shock interval was 20 s and the shock-shock interval was 5 s. There was no nominal discriminative stimulus in the punishment component, whereas the avoidance component was signalled by a compound stimulus of tone and light (AX) in Stage 1 for 6 days, by one of the element stimulus (A) of the previous compounds in Stage 2 for 6 days and by another element stimulus (X) in Stage 3 for 2 days. The only difference between the two groups was that Group E experienced all three stages, while the subjects of Group C remained in their home cages during Stage 2. The avoidance performance were evaluated in Stage 3. Only Group E showed robust respondings to the stimulus (X) which was not reinforced by itself. These results were accounted by a within-compound association view.
authors.affiliation: Kwansei Gakuin University, Uegahara Nishinomiya Hyogo, 662-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawai
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kitaguchi