Research article summary (published 18 Jul 2007):

Pavlovian backward conditioned inhibition in humans: summation and retardation tests.

Full Abstract

Two experiments using human participants investigated whether a Pavlovian backward inhibitory treatment (nonreinforced trials in phase 1 followed by reinforced trials in phase 2; i.e., AX- followed by A+) produces a stimulus which can pass summation and retardation tests for inhibition. The rationale for conducting these experiments was that previous demonstrations of Pavlovian backward inhibition informed participants about the nature of the outcome before starting the experiment. According to some theoretical views, this is a potential confound. In the present experiments we used a predictive task in which participants had no knowledge about the outcome until phase 2, when reinforcement occurred. The results of Experiment 1 (summation test) and Experiment 2 (retardation test) provide a clear demonstration of backward conditioned inhibition.

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Author information

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

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

Grants: R01 MH033881-25 (Agency:United States NIMH) ; R01 MH033881-26 (Agency:United States NIMH)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article

Journal: Behavioural processes (Behav Processes), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Mar; vol 77 (issue 3) : pp 299-305

Dates: Created 2008/02/25; Completed 2008/06/10;

PMID: 17766058, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

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.

Adult Association Learning Conditioning, Classical Humans Inhibition (Psychology)

Male Probability Learning Reference Values Reinforcement Schedule Transfer (Psychology)

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