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Related Experiment Videos

Selective transfer of responding in conditional discriminations.

P N Wilson1, J M Pearce

  • 1School of Psychology, University of Wales College of Cardiff, U.K.

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B, Comparative and Physiological Psychology
|February 1, 1990
PubMed
Summary

Background stimuli selectively influence rat behavior in discrimination tasks. Rats showed altered responses to trained stimuli based on background context, but not to partially reinforced cues.

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral neuroscience
  • Animal learning and behavior

Background:

  • Background stimuli can modulate associative learning.
  • The role of context in stimulus discrimination requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the selective influence of background stimuli on conditioned responses in rats.
  • To determine if background stimuli affect responses to trained versus untrained conditioned stimuli.

Main Methods:

  • Rats underwent discrimination training with target stimuli and background stimuli.
  • Food reinforcement was contingent on the presence or absence of the background stimulus.
  • Test trials assessed responses to conditioned stimuli under different background conditions.

Main Results:

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  • A background stimulus elevated responding to a target from a similar discrimination when trained in its presence.
  • The background stimulus had no effect on responses to partially reinforced conditioned stimuli.
  • When trained in the absence of the background, it inhibited responses to a similar discrimination target but not to partially or continuously reinforced stimuli.

Conclusions:

  • Background stimuli exert a selective influence on learned responses.
  • This influence depends on the specific associative history of the target stimulus and the background context.