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Enhanced unblocking from sustained post-trial surprise

Haselgrove, Mark; Tam, Shu K. E.; Jones, Peter M.

Authors

MARK HASELGROVE mark.haselgrove@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Experimental Psychology

Shu K. E. Tam

Peter M. Jones



Abstract

Two appetitive conditioning experiments with rats investigated the mechanisms and properties of unblocking that results from the surprising omission of an expected post-trial unconditioned stimulus (US). Experiment 1 demonstrated unblocking under circumstances in which differences in the contribution of generalization decrement and within-compound associations are equated across experimental and control groups. Following Stage 1 training in which a conditioned stimulus (CS) A was followed by a US and a post-trial US, in Experiment 2 we arranged for the post-trial US to be present on some trials with AX but not others. Under these circumstances an enhancement of unblocking to X was observed, relative to a group who received standard unblocking by US omission. The implications of these results for attentional and US-processing theories of associative learning are discussed.

Citation

Haselgrove, M., Tam, S. K. E., & Jones, P. M. (2013). Enhanced unblocking from sustained post-trial surprise. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 39(4), 311-322. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032569

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date 2013
Deposit Date Apr 30, 2019
Journal Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes
Print ISSN 0097-7403
Electronic ISSN 0097-7403
Publisher American Psychological Association
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 39
Issue 4
Pages 311-322
DOI https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032569
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1858469
Publisher URL https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-17509-001?doi=1