Potentiation and overshadowing in Pavlovian fear conditioning.

Full Abstract

The present experiments addressed a fundamental discrepancy in the Pavlovian conditioning literature concerning responding to a target cue following compound reinforced training with another cue of higher salience. Experiment 1 identified one determinant of whether the target cue will be overshadowed or potentiated by the more salient cue, namely contiguity between compound CS termination and US presentation. Overshadowing and potentiation were observed with delay and trace procedures, respectively. Experiments 2 and 3 contrasted elemental and configural explanations of potentiation. Both experiments supported a configural account. Experiments 3 and 4, by manipulating prior learning experiences to bias subjects to encode the same compound elementally or configurally, demonstrated decreased potentiation and overshadowing, respectively. Overall, these experiments demonstrate potentiation with nontaste stimuli and identify one variable that determines whether overshadowing or potentiation will occur. Moreover, they show that prior experiences can determine how a compound is encoded and are compatible with the idea of flexible encoding as a principle of information processing.

Author information

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

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

Grants: 33881 (Agency:PHS HHS) ; R01 MH033881-28 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: 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: 2009-Jul; vol 35 (issue 3) : pp 340-56

Dates: Created 2009/07/14; Completed 2009/09/17;

PMID: 19594280, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/17/2009, IMS Date: )

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

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.