Stimulus generalization of a classically conditioned response along a temporal dimension.

Abstract

RATS GIVEN CLASSICAL CONDITIONING PAIRING TONE (CS) WITH SHOCK (UCS) WERE SUBSEQUENTLY TESTED FOR STIMULUS GENERALIZATION ALONG A FREQUENCY DIMENSION (EXP. 1). STRENGTH OF CRS TO TEST STIMULI, MEASURED INDIRECTLY BY MAGNITUDE OF STARTLE REACTION TO A PROBE STIMULUS (SUDDEN LOUD NOISE PRESENTED INSTEAD OF UCS), EXHIBITED A SIGNIFICANT GENERALIZATION DECREMENT. FOLLOWING CLASSICAL CONDITIONING WITH EITHER A LONG OR SHORT CS-UCS INTERVAL, PROBE STIMULI WERE INTRODUCED IN TEST TRIALS AT VARIOUS TIMES AFTER CS ONSET (EXP. II). CONDITIONING WITH A 4-SEC CS-UCS INTERVAL RESULTED IN A SYMMETRICAL TEMPORAL GRADIENT MAXIMUM AT THE CS-UCS INTERVAL. DISCRIMINATION TRAINING BETWEEN STIMULI DIFFERING IN TEMPORAL DURATION PRODUCED A SHIFT IN PEAK RESPONSE STRENGTH AWAY FROM S-. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)