title: Reinstatement after human feature-positive discrimination learning.
abstract: In two experiments, using an online conditioned suppression task, we investigated the possibility of reinstatement of extinguished feature-target compound presentations after sequential feature-positive discrimination training in humans. Furthermore, given a hierarchical account of Pavlovian modulation (e.g., Bonardi, 1998; Bonardi and Jennings, 2009), we predicted A-US reinstatement to be stronger than US-only reinstatement. In Experiment 1, participants learned a sequential feature-positive discrimination (X→A+|A-), which was subsequently extinguished (X→A-). During the following reinstatement phase, group US-only received US-only presentations (not signalled), group A-US received A-US presentations, and the Control group received exposure to the context, but no CSs or USs, for an equal amount of time. Reinstatement of differential X→A/A responding was observed in the US-only group but not in the Control or A-US groups. Although differential X→A/A responding was not significant in group A-US, responding to the X→A compound was significantly stronger compared to that in group US-only. Hence, it could be the case the group A-US showed stronger reinstatement, but that differential responding was abolished due to excitation gained by A. Experiment 2 was set up to circumvent the acquired excitation of A by testing transfer of the feature after A-US reinstatement to a different target, B. Participants acquired two discriminations, X→A/A and Y→B/B, of which X→A was then extinguished. Subsequently, group A-US received reinforced presentations of A during a reinstatement phase while group Control received exposure to the context. Final testing of the novel X→B compound was hypothesized to show higher responding in group A-US than in group Control, but findings of this approach were limited due to acquired equivalence and/or perceptual factors causing a secondary extinction effect. We conclude to have obtained clear evidence in favour of reinstatement of differential responding after human Feature-Positive discrimination training and subsequent compound extinction, but no evidence in favour of A-US presentations being a stronger trigger for reinstatement than are US-only presentations.
authors.affiliation: Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Health Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: mathijs.franssen@kuleuven.be.
authors.forename: Mathijs
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Franssen
authors.affiliation: Health Psychology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Experimental-Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Claes
authors.affiliation: Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Bram
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vervliet
authors.affiliation: Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Beckers
authors.affiliation: Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hermans
authors.affiliation: Center for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baeyens
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D003463:Cues; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D012984:Software; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D018910:Video Games; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Feature positive discrimination; Human; Modulation; Occasion setting; Reinstatement