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Related Experiment Videos

Blocking between occasion setters and contextual stimuli.

D Swartzentruber1

  • 1University of Vermont.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes
|April 1, 1991
PubMed
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Modulation by the stimulus properties of excitation.

Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processesยท1997
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Rats learned that contexts and occasion setters control conditioned stimuli (CSs) through similar mechanisms in discrimination learning. Initial learning about one element blocked subsequent learning about the other, suggesting shared control pathways.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral neuroscience
  • Learning and memory
  • Animal behavior

Background:

  • Conditioned stimuli (CSs) and their control over responses are fundamental to learning.
  • Occasion setters and contexts are known to modulate stimulus control, but their precise mechanisms remain debated.
  • Blocking procedures reveal how prior learning impacts new associations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the control mechanisms of contexts and positive occasion setters in appetitive conditioning.
  • To investigate whether initial learning about one modulator blocks subsequent learning about another.
  • To determine if excitation conditioned to a stimulus explains blocking effects.

Main Methods:

  • Rats underwent two appetitive conditioning experiments employing a blocking procedure.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Experiment 1: A light (L) as an occasion setter for a tone CS (T) was established before a light-context compound signaled reinforcement for T.
  • Experiment 2: Initial learning about a context blocked the acquisition of occasion setting by a light (L).

    • Main Results:

    • Prior learning about a light occasion setter blocked subsequent contextual control over responding to a tone CS.
    • Initial learning about a context blocked the acquisition of occasion setting by a light.
    • Blocking effects were not attributable to simple excitation conditioned to the stimuli.

    Conclusions:

    • Contexts and occasion setters appear to exert control over conditioned stimuli through similar underlying mechanisms.
    • The findings challenge explanations based solely on stimulus excitation, suggesting more complex interactions in learning.
    • This research provides novel insights into the shared neural and cognitive processes governing associative learning and stimulus control.