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Trace autoshaping: Acquisition, maintenance, and path dependence at long trace intervals.

G A Lucas, J D Deich, E A Wasserman

    Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
    |July 1, 1981
    PubMed
    Summary

    Pigeons can learn and remember signals over long delays in trace conditioning. Key pecking performance decreases with longer trace intervals, but pigeons maintain this behavior even after 36 seconds.

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    Area of Science:

    • Behavioral neuroscience
    • Animal cognition
    • Learning and memory

    Background:

    • Trace conditioning involves learning associations between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) separated by a temporal gap.
    • Understanding the limits of temporal processing in animals is crucial for understanding learning mechanisms.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To investigate the pigeon's ability to acquire and maintain signal-directed key pecking under trace conditioning.
    • To parametrically examine the effect of varying trace interval durations on conditioned responding.

    Main Methods:

    • Pigeons were trained using a trace conditioning procedure where a conditioned stimulus (CS) preceded an unconditioned stimulus (US) after a variable trace interval.
    • Experiment 1 used separate groups to assess acquisition across different trace intervals.

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  • Experiment 2 employed a within-subject design to examine the maintenance of responding across varying trace intervals.

    • Main Results:

    • The percentage of conditioned response (key pecking) trials decreased as the trace interval length increased.
    • Most pigeons acquired signal-directed key pecking even with trace intervals up to 36 seconds.
    • In a within-subject design, the maintenance of key pecking at extended trace intervals (36 and 60 seconds) was dependent on the pigeon's prior performance history.

    Conclusions:

    • Pigeons demonstrate a robust capacity for trace conditioning, acquiring and maintaining associations over significant temporal delays.
    • The duration of the trace interval critically influences the acquisition and maintenance of conditioned responding.
    • Prior performance history plays a role in sustained responding under long trace intervals, suggesting complex temporal memory processes.