A comparator view of Pavlovian and differential inhibition.

Full Abstract

In 3 experiments using rats as subjects, the authors varied trial spacing to investigate the conditions under which Pavlovian and differential inhibition are observed. Experiment 1 compared Pavlovian and differential inhibition with spaced training trials. Spaced trials resulted in only the Pavlovian inhibitor passing both summation and retardation tests. Conversely, Experiment 2 compared these 2 types of inhibition with massed training trials. This training resulted in only the differential inhibitor passing both tests for conditioned inhibition. Finally, in Experiment 3 all subjects experienced Pavlovian inhibition training with massed trials. Although this training by itself did not result in behavior indicative of inhibition, subjects that also experienced posttraining extinction of the training context did pass both tests for inhibition. Overall, these results are anticipated by the extended comparator hypothesis (Denniston, Savastano, & Miller, 2001) but are problematic for most contemporary associative learning theories.

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Author information

Author/s: Urcelay, Gonzalo P (GP); Miller, Ralph R (RR);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA.

Grants: 33881 (Agency:PHS HHS) ; R01 MH033881-25 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes (J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Jul; vol 32 (issue 3) : pp 271-83

Dates: Created 2006/07/12; Completed 2006/11/28; Revised 2008/11/20;

PMID: 16834494, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Analysis of Variance
Animals
Association Learning - physiology
Behavior, Animal
Conditioning, Classical - physiology
Extinction, Psychological
Female

Habituation, Psychophysiologic - physiology
Inhibition (Psychology)
Male
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Reaction Time - physiology
Reinforcement Schedule

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