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Effects of contextual conditioning and unconditional stimulus presentation on performance in appetitive conditioning
M E Bouton1, C Rosengard, G G Achenbach
1Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405.
Summary
Contextual conditioning enhances performance to extinguished cues, but not to previously trained cues in rats. This effect is mediated by the context acting as a specific cue for the prior conditioning or extinction.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral neuroscience
- Learning and memory
Background:
- Contextual conditioning plays a role in learning and memory.
- Its precise influence on conditioned appetitive performance requires further elucidation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how contextual conditioning affects conditioned appetitive performance in rats.
- To determine if contextual conditioning acts as a cue for prior conditioning or extinction events.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments using rat subjects were conducted.
- Rats were exposed to various conditioning, extinction, and contextual conditioning paradigms.
- Performance to conditioned stimuli (CSs) with different histories was assessed.
Main Results:
- Contextual conditioning enhanced performance to CSs that had undergone extinction, but not to those merely paired or unpaired with food.
- Extinction procedures with additional unconditioned stimuli (USs) reduced sensitivity to contextual enhancement.
- Added USs acquired cueing abilities for their associated performance, and sometimes suppressed performance.
Conclusions:
- Contextual conditioning has complex effects on conditioned responding.
- Contextual conditioning and USs can acquire discriminative control over performance, acting as specific cues.