Abstract
In the present experiments, the outcome specificity of learning was explored in an appetitive Pavlovian backward conditioning procedure with rats. The rats initially were administered Pavlovian backward training with two qualitatively different unconditioned stimulus conditioned-stimulus (US-CS) pairs of stimuli (e.g., pellet → noise or sucrose → light), and then the effects of this training were assessed in Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (Experiment 1) and retardation-of-learning (Experiment 2) tests. In the transfer test, it was shown that during the last 10-sec interval, the CSs selectively reduced the rate of the instrumental responses with which they shared a US, relative to the instrumental responses with which they did not share a US. The opposite result was obtained when the USs (in the absence of the CSs) were presented noncontingently. In the retardation test, conditioned magazine approach, responding to the CSs was acquired more slowly when the stimulus-outcome combinations in the backward and the forward conditioning phases were the same, as compared with when they were reversed. These results are collectively in accord with the view that Pavlovian backward conditioning can result in the formation of outcome-specific inhibitory associations. Alternative views of backward conditioning are also examined.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barnet, R. C., &Miller, R. R. (1996). Second-order excitation mediated by a backward conditioned inhibitor.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,22, 279–296.
Betts, S. L., Brandon, S. E., &Wagner, A. R. (1996). Dissociation of the blocking of conditioned eyeblink and conditioned fear following a shift in US locus.Animal Learning & Behavior,24, 459–470.
Bonardi, C. (1989). Inhibitory discriminative control is specific to both the response and the reinforcer.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,41B, 225–242.
Cole, R. P., &Miller, R. R. (1999). Conditioned excitation and conditioned inhibition acquired through backward conditioning.Learning & Motivation,30, 129–156.
Colwill, R. M. (1991). Negative discriminative stimuli provide information about the identity of omitted response-contingent outcomes.Animal Learning & Behavior,19, 326–336.
Colwill, R. M., &Motzkin, D. K. (1994). Encoding of the unconditioned stimulus in Pavlovian conditioning.Animal Learning & Behavior,22, 384–394.
Colwill, R. M., &Rescorla, R. A. (1988). Associations between the discriminative stimulus and the reinforcer in instrumental learning.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,14, 155–164.
Delamater, A. R. (1995). Outcome-selective effects of intertrial reinforcement in a Pavlovian appetitive conditioning paradigm with rats.Animal Learning & Behavior,23, 31–39.
Delamater, A. R. (1996). Effects of several extinction treatments upon the integrity of Pavlovian stimulus-outcome associations.Animal Learning & Behavior,24, 437–449.
Delamater, A. R. (1997). Selective reinstatement of stimulus-outcome associations.Animal Learning & Behavior,25, 400–412.
Delamater, A. R., &LoLordo, V. M. (1991). Event revaluation procedures and associative structures in Pavlovian conditioning. In L. Dachowski & C. F. Flaherty (Eds.),Current topics in animal learning: Brain, emotion, and cognition (pp. 55–94). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Heth, C. D. (1976). Simultaneous and backward fear conditioning as a function of number of CS-US pairings.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,2, 117–129.
Kruse, J. M., Overmier, J. B., Konz, W. A., &Rokke, E. (1983). Pavlovian conditioned stimulus effects upon instrumental choice behavior are reinforcer specific.Learning & Motivation,14, 165–181.
LoLordo, V. M. (1967). Similarity of conditioned fear responses based on different aversive events.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,64, 154–158.
LoLordo, V. M., &Fairless, J. L. (1985). Pavlovian conditioned inhibition: The literature since 1969. In R. R. Miller & N. E. Spear (Eds.),Information processing in animals: Conditioned inhibition (pp. 1–50). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Maier, S. F., Rapaport, P., &Wheatley, K. L. (1976). Conditioned inhibition and the UCS-CS interval.Animal Learning & Behavior,4, 217–220.
McNish, K. A., Betts, S. L., Brandon, S. E., &Wagner, A. R. (1997). Divergence of conditioned eyeblink and conditioned fear in backward Pavlovian training.Animal Learning & Behavior,25, 43–52.
Moscovitch, A., &LoLordo, V. M. (1968). Role of safety in the Pavlovian backward fear conditioning procedure.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,66, 673–678.
Nieto, J. (1984). Transfer of conditioned inhibition across different aversive reinforcers in the rat.Learning & Motivation,15, 37–57.
Pearce, J. M., Montgomery, A., &Dickinson, A. (1981). Contralateral transfer of inhibitory and excitatory eyelid conditioning in the rabbit.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,33B, 45–61.
Rescorla, R. A. (1969). Pavlovian conditioned inhibition.Psychological Bulletin,72, 77–94.
Rescorla, R. A. (1997). Spontaneous recovery after Pavlovian conditioning with multiple outcomes.Animal Learning & Behavior,25, 99–107.
Rescorla, R. A. (1999). Learning about qualitatively different outcomes during a blocking procedure.Animal Learning & Behavior,27, 140–151.
Rescorla, R. A., &Skucy, J. C. (1969). Effect of response-independent reinforcers during extinction.Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology,67, 381–389.
Rodger, R. S. (1974). Multiple contrasts, factors, error rate, and power.British Journal of Mathematical & Statistical Psychology,27, 179–198.
Rodger, R. S. (1975). The number of non-zero, post hoc contrasts from ANOVA and error-rate: I.British Journal of Mathematical & Statistical Psychology,28, 71–78.
Romaniuk, C. B., &Williams, D. A. (2000). Conditioning across the duration of a backward conditioned stimulus.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,26, 454–461.
Silva, F. J., &Timberlake, W. (2000). A clarification on the nature of backward excitatory conditioning.Learning & Motivation,31, 67–80.
Silva, F. J., Timberlake, W., &Cevik, M. O. (1998). A behavior systems approach to the expression of backward associations.Learning & Motivation,29, 1–22.
Tait, R. W., &Saladin, M. E. (1986). Concurrent development of excitatory and inhibitory associations during backward conditioning.Animal Learning & Behavior,14, 133–137.
Trapold, M. A., &Overmier, J. B. (1972). The second learning process in instrumental learning. In A. H. Black & W. F. Prokasy (Eds.),Classical conditioning: II. Current research and theory (pp. 427–452). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Wagner, A. R., &Brandon, S. E. (1989). Evolution of a structured connectionist model of Pavlovian conditioning (AESOP). In S. B. Klein & R. R. Mowrer (Eds.),Contemporary learning theories: Pavlovian conditioning and the status of traditional learning theory (pp. 149–189). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Watt, A., &Honey, R. C. (1997). Combining CSs associated with the same or different USs.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,50B, 350–367.
Williams, D. A., &Hurlburt, J. L. (2000). Mechanisms of secondorder conditioning with a backward conditioned stimulus.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes,26, 340–351.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported through PSC-CUNY Grant 62690-00-31, awarded to A.R.D. by the Research Foundation of CUNY. It also served as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of M.A. for W.S. at Brooklyn College.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Delamater, A.R., Sosa, W. & LoLordo, V.M. Outcome-specific conditioned inhibition in Pavlovian backward conditioning. Animal Learning & Behavior 31, 393–402 (2003). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196000
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196000