Work

Contextual control of inhibition with reinforcement: Adaptation and timing mechanisms.

Year: 2008

Type: article

Abstract: Four experiments with rats studied the effects of switching the context after Pavlovian conditioning. In three conditioned suppression experiments, a large number of conditioning trials created "inhibition with reinforcement" (IWR), in which fear of the conditional stimulus (CS) reached a maximum and then declined despite continued CS-unconditional stimulus pairings. When IWR occurred, a context switch augmented fear of the CS; IWR and augmentation were highly correlated. Neither IWR nor augmentation resulted from inhibition of delay (IOD): In conditioned suppression, IWR and augmentation occurred without IOD (Experiment 3), and in appetitive conditioning (Experiment 4), IOD occurred without IWR or augmentation. IWR may occur in conditioned suppression because the animal adapts to fear of the CS in a context-specific manner. The authors discuss several implications.

Source: Journal of Experimental Psychology Animal Behavior Processes

DOI: 10.1037/0097-7403.34.2.223

Authors: Mark E. Bouton, Russell J. Frohardt, Ceyhun Sunsay, Jaylyn Waddell, Richard W. Morris

Institution: University of Vermont

Language: English

Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Mental Health

Awards: G2539346505, Extinction and Recovery in Associative Learning, G8251183769