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ABSTRACT: This paper reviews research designed to investigate the temporal control of inhibitory responding using rats as subjects. One area of investigation has focused on the role of temporal variables in conditioned inhibition produced using Pavlov's [Pavlov, I.P., 1927. Conditioned Reflexes. Oxford University Press, London, 430 pp.] procedure. These studies have found that evidence of conditioned inhibition obtained by negative summation testing is strongest when the conditioned inhibitor signals the omission of the unconditioned stimulus (US) at the same temporal location as a transfer excitor signals presentation of the US [e.g., Barnet, R.C., Miller, R.R., 1996. Temporal encoding as a determinant of inhibitory control. Learn. Motiv. 27, 73-91]. Similarly, retardation of acquisition of behavioral control by a previously inhibitory conditioned stimulus (CS) is maximal when the inhibitory CS is paired with the US at the same temporal location as the inhibitor had previously signaled US omission [Burger, D., Denniston, J.C., Miller, R.R., 2001. Temporal coding in condition inhibition: retardation tests. Anim. Learn. Behav. 29, 281-290]. Other lines of research designed to assess the associative structure of temporal control of inhibition [e.g., Denniston, J.C., Blaisdell, A.P., Miller, R.R., 2004. Temporal control in conditioned inhibition: analysis of associative structure of inhibition. J. Exp. Psychol. Anim. Behav. Process. 30, 190-202] are reviewed, as is the assessment of temporal control of inhibition produced through extinction [Denniston, J.C., Miller, R.R., 2003. The role of temporal variables in inhibition produced through extinction. Learn. Behav. 31, 35-48]. These collective observations are discussed in terms of the temporal coding hypothesis [Matzel, L.D., Held, F.P., Miller, R.R., 1988. Reexamination of simultaneous and backward conditioning: Implications for contiguity theory. Learn. Motiv. 19, 317-344].
Behavioural Processes 03/2007; 74(2):274-85. · 1.65 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Three experiments examined human processing of stimuli as predictors and causes. In Experiments 1A and 1B, two serial events that both preceded a third were assessed as predictors and as causes of the third event. Instructions successfully provided scenarios in which one of the serial (target) stimuli was viewed as a strong predictor but as a weak cause of the third event. In Experiment 2, participants' preexperimental knowledge was drawn upon in such a way that two simultaneous antecedent events were processed as predictors or causes, which strongly influenced the occurrence of overshadowing between the antecedent events. Although a tendency toward overshadowing was found between predictors, reliable overshadowing was observed only between causes, and then only when the test question was causal. Together with other evidence in the human learning literature, the present results suggest that predictive and causal learning obey similar laws, but there is a greater susceptibility to cue competition in causal than predictive attribution.
Learning & Behavior 06/2005; 33(2):184-96. · 2.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Two experiments with rats as subjects were conducted to investigate the associative structure of temporal control of conditioned inhibition through posttraining manipulation of the training excitor-unconditioned stimulus (US) temporal relationship. Experiment 1 found that following simultaneous Pavlovian inhibition training (i.e., A --> US/XA-no US) in which a conditioned stimulus (CS A) was established as a delay excitor, maximal inhibition was observed on a summation test when CS X was compounded with a delay transfer CS. Furthermore, posttraining shifts in the A-US temporal relationship from delay to trace resulted in maximal inhibition of a trace transfer CS. Experiment 2 found complementary results to Experiment 1 with an A-US posttraining shift from serial to simultaneous. These results suggest that temporal control of inhibition is mediated by the training excitor-US temporal relationship.
Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior Processes 07/2004; 30(3):190-202. · 2.05 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In two experiments with rats as subjects, the temporal characteristics of inhibition produced through extinction were investigated. Each experiment established two independent signals for unconditioned stimulus presentation, one trace and one delay. Following initial training, either the trace or the delay conditioned stimulus (CS) was massively extinguished. In Experiment 1, a summation test established that an extinguished delay CS (but not a neutral CS) passed a summation test with a delay, but not with a trace, transfer excitor, and an extinguished trace CS (but not a neutral CS) passed a summation test with a trace, but not with a delay, transfer excitor. In Experiment 2, a retardation test showed retarded behavioral control by an extinguished delay CS when the CS was retrained as a delay CS, but not as a trace CS, and by an extinguished trace CS when the CS was retrained as a trace CS, but not as a delay CS. The results are discussed in terms of contemporary theories of extinction.
Learning & Behavior 03/2003; 31(1):35-48. · 2.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In three experiments with rats, the temporal relationships under which a conditioned inhibitor would transfer its inhibitory
potential to an independently trained excitor in a summation test were investigated. Each experiment varied the temporal relationship
between the inhibitor and the transfer excitor at test (serial or simultaneous) and, in addition, manipulated either the inhibitor-training
excitor (serial or simultaneous), training excitor-unconditioned stimulus (US) (trace or delay), or the transfer excitor-US
(trace or delay) temporal relationships. Conditioned inhibition was found only when the no-US expectation evoked by the conditioned
inhibitor was temporally aligned with the US expectation evoked by the transfer excitor, independent of whether the inhibitor
was trained as a serial or simultaneous signal for US omission. Results are discussed in terms of the temporal coding hypothesis
and the comparator hypothesis.
Learning & Behavior 04/1998; 26(3):336-350. · 2.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: The roles of deficient acquisition and deficient expression of learned information in the effect of relative stimulus validity
were examined using rats in a conditioned lick suppression paradigm. Recovery from the effect without further pairings of
the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US) would favor an interpretation of the relative validity effect
based on a latent CS-US association as distinct from a failure to acquire the CS-US association. As a potential recovery manipulation,
“reminder” treatments, consisting of the US alone (Experiment 1) or the CS alone (Experiment 2), were administered following
relative validity training. In both cases, subjects for which the CS target was of low relative predictive validity exhibited
enhanced responding relative to appropriate controls. Additionally, Experiment 2 showed that the amelioration of the relative
validity deficit was stimulus specific. Thus, the results of these experiments support previous suggestions that the performance
deficit resulting from low relative stimulus validity is due, at least in part, to a failure to express acquired information
(Cole, Barnet, & Miller, 1995a).
Learning & Behavior 04/1996; 24(3):256-265. · 2.00 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Four experiments using rats as subjects investigated the claim of Williams (1996) that cue competition results from an associative acquisition deficit, rather than a performance deficit. In Experiment 1, extinction of an overshadowing stimulus following overshadowing treatment increased responding to the overshadowed stimulus, thereby replicating prior observations with new parameters. In Experiment 2, an overshadowed stimulus failed to support second-order conditioning unless the overshadowing stimulus received prior extinction treatment. Experiment 3 replicated the recovery from overshadowing effect seen in Experiment 1 using a sensory preconditioning procedure. Most important, in Experiment 4 an overshadowed stimulus failed to block conditioned responding to a novel CS, but blocking by the overshadowed cue was observed following posttraining extinction of the overshadowing stimulus. These results, as well as those of Williams, are discussed in terms of traditional and more recent acquisition-focused models as well as an extension of the comparator hypothesis (Denniston, Savastano, & Miller, 2001).
Learning and Motivation.
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ABSTRACT: Two experiments with rats as subjects investigated whether massive extinction can attenuate the renewal effect. Experiment 1 investigated whether moderate or massive extinction could prevent the return of conditioned responding following Pavlovian conditioning in Context A, extinction in Context B, and subsequent testing in Context C (i.e., ABC renewal). Experiment 2 examined whether massive extinction could prevent renewal following training in Context A, extinction in Context B, and testing in Context A (i.e., ABA renewal). Both experiments observed attenuated renewal following massive, but not moderate extinction. Results are discussed in terms of contemporary theories of extinction.
Learning and Motivation.
