Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 7, 2026

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
An inhibitory within-compound association attenuates overshadowing
Jeffrey C Amundson1, James E Witnauer, Oskar Pineño
1University of Kansas, USA.
The comparator hypothesis suggests cue competition relies on stimulus associations. Inhibiting relationships between stimuli before conditioning reduces overshadowing, supporting the necessity of within-compound associations for cue competition.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral neuroscience
- Learning and memory
Background:
- The comparator hypothesis posits that cue competition is influenced by associations between target and competing stimuli.
- Understanding these associations is crucial for explaining learning and memory processes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether establishing an inhibitory-like relationship between a target stimulus (X) and an overshadowing cue (A) reduces cue competition.
- To determine if within-compound associations are essential for conventional cue competition.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments using lever press suppression in rats.
- Manipulating the associative relationship between stimulus X and stimulus A before and after compound conditioning (AX).
Main Results:
- Establishing an inhibitory X-A relationship significantly reduced overshadowing.
- Degrading this inhibitory relationship, either before or after conditioning, restored overshadowing.
Conclusions:
- Within-compound associations are necessary for conventional cue competition.
- These findings support the comparator hypothesis and extend its implications beyond retrospective revaluation.
More Related Videos
09:48Intracortical Inhibition Within the Primary Motor Cortex Can Be Modulated by Changing the Focus of Attention
Published on: September 11, 2017
05:22Dissociation of the Confounding Influences of Expectancy and Integrative Difficulty Residing in Anomalous Sentences in Event-related Potential Studies
Published on: May 9, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Feedback Inhibition
Combined Effects of Drugs: Antagonism
The most common type is receptor antagonism, where one drug acts as an antagonist to block the effects of another drug by...
Integration of Synaptic Events
Ligand-Gated Ion Channel Receptor: Gating Mechanism
Drug-Receptor Interaction: Antagonist
Antagonists can be classified as competitive or noncompetitive based on their...
Excitatory and Inhibitory Effects of Neurotransmitters