title: Conditioned inhibition and reinforcement rate.
abstract: We investigated conditioned inhibition in a magazine approach paradigm. Rats were trained on a feature negative discrimination between an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS) reinforced at one rate versus a compound of that CS and a visual stimulus (L) reinforced at a lower rate. This training established L as a conditioned inhibitor. We then tested the inhibitory strength of L by presenting it in compound with other auditory CSs. L reduced responding when tested with a CS that had been reinforced at a high rate, but had less or even no inhibitory effect when tested with a CS that had been reinforced at a low rate. The inhibitory strength of L was greater if it signaled a decrease in reinforcement from an already low rate than if it signaled an equivalent decrease in reinforcement from a high rate. We conclude that the strength of inhibition is not a linear function of the change in reinforcement that it signals. We discuss the implications of this finding for models of learning (e.g., Rescorla & Wagner, 1972) that identify inhibition with a difference (subtraction) rule.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Justin A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Dorothy W S
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Kwok
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology.
authors.forename: Benjamin J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Andrew
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D011930:Reaction Time; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D013997:Time Factors