Enhanced unblocking from sustained post-trial surprise

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

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: 1939-2184
• 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