Experimental transfer of conditioning in dogs.

Abstract

Transfer of conditioning was produced in 4 dogs by putting them through a 2-stage conditioning process such that the unconditioned stimulus for the 1st stage was the conditioned stimulus for the 2d stage. During the 1st stage. conditioning of right hindleg flexion to the sound of a buzzer was established by the use of shock as the unconditioned stimulus. The 2d stage of training conditioned right foreleg flexion to the right hindleg shock. In one dog a light instead of a buzzer was used, and contralateral flexions were conditioned. At the conclusion of this training, all animals responded to the conditioned stimulus of the 1st stage with the conditioned response of the 2d stage. Control groups, for which the possibility of learning either the 1st or 2d stage was not present, gave no transfer responses. Transfer thus did not occur unless both conditionings were established. In many cases, the transfer response occurred directly, without appearance of the postulated mediating response of the 1st stage.