Eyeblink classical conditioning in the preweanling lamb.

Classical conditioning of eyeblink responses has been one of the most important models for studying the neurobiology of learning, with many comparative, ontogenetic, and clinical applications. The current study reports the development of procedures to conduct eyeblink conditioning in preweanling lambs and demonstrates successful conditioning using these procedures. These methods will permit application of eyeblink conditioning procedures in the analysis of functional correlates of cerebellar damage in a sheep model of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, which has significant advantages over more common laboratory rodent models. Because sheep have been widely used for studies of pathogenesis and mechanisms of injury with many different prenatal or perinatal physiological insults, eyeblink conditioning can provide a well-studied method to assess postnatal behavioral outcomes, which heretofore have not typically been pursued with ovine models of developmental insults. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Simultaneous and backward fear conditioning in the rat.

Examined simultaneous and backward Pavlovian conditioning paradigms using a UCS event which was longer in duration than the CS. 3 experiments with male Sprague-Dawley rats (N = 96) paired a 4-sec electric shock with a 2-sec tone-light stimulus under conditions in which the onset of the stimulus occurred 0, .25, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, or 4.5 sec. after the onset of the shock. Relative to nonpaired control procedures, response-contingent presentations of the CSs in these paradigms significantly suppressed a food-rewarded free operant, indicating that these temporal relationships can produce excitatory associative conditioning. It is suggested that the distinctions between "forward," "simultaneous," and "backward" procedures be modified to include a more molecular analysis of the UCS event. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classical conditioning in infancy: Development and constraints.

Describes and evaluates the current status of infant classical conditioning research, focusing on those variables thought to be generally influential in CR formation and those which constrain conditionability. These variables include the nature of the CS, CS-CR interaction, UCS, interstimulus interval, orienting response, stimulus patterning, CA, and state or level of arousal. The most general conclusions to be drawn are that infant conditionability (a) is a function of CS-CR specificity, (b) is more easily demonstrated with simple conditioning proccedures than complex procedures, (c) is not apparently related to CA except for interstimulus interval value, (d) is related both to orienting and (e) to state, and (f) can be used to study individual differences when complex conditioning procedures are used. It is suggested that infant classicial conditioning research has much to contribute to the main body of classical conditioning literature and should become more firmly integrated with it. (97 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Association learning of likes and dislikes: A review of 25 years of research on human evaluative conditioning.

Evaluative conditioning refers to changes in the liking of a stimulus that are due to the fact that the stimulus has been paired with other, positive or negative stimuli. Although evaluative conditioning appears to be subjected to certain boundary conditions, significant evaluative conditioning effects have been obtained using a large variety of stimuli and procedures. Some data suggest that evaluative conditioning can occur under conditions that do not support other forms of Pavlovian conditioning, and several models have been proposed to account for these differences. In the present article, the authors summarize the available literature, draw conclusions where possible, and provide suggestions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Backward conditioning.

Experimental evidence on backward conditioning is evaluated critically and a theoretical integration of these experiments, conducted in Russia and in the United States and using both animal and human Ss, suggests unmistakably that "… backward conditioning is not a case of pseudo-conditioning but is a genuine CR-associative manifestation, and that stable backward CR's can be obtained and maintained under favorable experimental conditions." For backward conditioning to be facilitated the US should neither be too strong nor should the CS be too weak. While the formation of backward conditioning does not appear to be harmonious with the CR theories of Guthrie, Hull, or Tolman, it is suggested that it may be accounted for by the author's position of "dominance-contiguity." 44 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medial prefrontal cortex and Pavlovian conditioning: Trace versus delay conditioning.

Pavlovian eyeblink (EB) conditioning was studied in both trace and delay paradigms in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) with either medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) lesions or sham lesions. mPFC lesions of prelimbic cortex (Brodmann's Area 32) retarded EB conditioning in the trace but not the delay paradigm. However, this effect was significant only when the conditioned stimulus (CS) was 500 rather than 100 ms in duration. Lesions of the anterior cingulate cortex (Area 24) did not affect EB conditioning in a trace paradigm. Accompanying CS-evoked heart rate slowing was attenuated under all conditions by the mPFC lesions, although this result was not always statistically significant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral self-control of smoking through aversive conditioning and self-management.

Evaluated self-control variants of aversive conditioning and self-management procedures for the modification of cigarette smoking. 16–37 yr old smokers (90% undergraduates) were assigned to 10 treatment conditions arranged in a 2?×?5 (Self-Management?×?Aversive Conditioning) factorial design; another 20 smokers were included in a no-apply control group. Five varieties of aversive conditioning were used: aversive conditioning, placebo shock, therapist-delivered shock, S-delivered shock, and imagined aversive scene. Half of the smokers under each variety of aversive conditioning received additional training in a package of self-management techniques. Smokers were seen by individual therapists in 6 sessions over 3 wks. The treatment effects of aversive conditioning were negligible, and in some instances they were surpassed by the effects of controls for nonspecific treatment factors and placebo effects. The addition of self-management to aversive conditioning significantly reduced smoking beyond aversive conditioning effects over a 20-wk follow-up. However, no treatment combination led to reductions in smoking beyond controls for nonspecific factors, nor were reductions maintained over follow-up times. Implications for behavioral self-control strategies are discussed. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The operant conditioning of human motor behavior.

"This paper reports procedures for the direct application of the variables defining the paradigm for operant conditioning to human behavior, and shows that human beings act very much indeed like experimental animals when they are subjected to the same experimental treatments. It suggests that direct application of conditioning principles to some categories of human behavior may be justified. The procedures are simple, and they may be followed by anyone, with a minimum of equipment." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of subliminal shock conditioning on recall.

Presented words at chance recognition levels and paired them with either the abrupt initiation or cessation of shock conditioning procedures. 18 male graduate students served as Ss in each of 3 experiments. Exp. I showed that words associated with abrupt initiation of shock conditioning appeared later in free recall than words associated with cessation of shock conditioning. Exp. II replicated the results of Exp. I when S's task during conditioning was irrelevant to recognizing words. Exp. III, using 50% of the stimulus intensity of Exp. I and II, demonstrated residual differentiation in recall between words actually presented and those whose presentation was simulated. Results are interpreted as evidence for subliminal perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The covert conditioning handbook.

Reviews the book, The covert conditioning handbook by Joseph R. Cautela and Albert J. Kearney. Covert conditioning procedures were first developed by Joseph Cautela in the late 1960s. Now twenty years later, Cautela and coauthor Kearney have systematically organized the experimental and clinical literature on covert conditioning to provide an extensive review of its uses and effectiveness. The book includes explanations of the two most widely utilized covert conditioning procedures--covert positive reinforcement and covert sensitization--as well as the lesser known ones such as covert extinction, covert modeling, covert negative reinforcement, and covert response cost. In textbook format, the learning theory basis for each procedure is given, the clinical application is detailed, and relevant research findings are discussed. The second part of the book describes the use of covert conditioning procedures with different problem behaviors by providing case examples and by reviewing empirical evidence and case reports. The book is ideal for the beginning behavior therapist since the procedures are outlined clearly and with considerable detail. Drawing on their vast clinical experience with the methods, the authors discuss problems using the imagery-based techniques and the steps to ameliorate them. More experienced behavior therapists, while finding much of the material elementary, will glean some useful clinical tips and discover some innovative and more effective ways of using covert methods. Researchers will appreciate the careful analyses of 13 selected studies on covert conditioning, as well as the useful guidelines for interpreting and conducting research. A helpful feature of the book is an extensive bibliography (442 references) with a topical index that can be used to locate references on a particular procedure, target behavior, or type of article (case study, experimental, or theoretical). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors affecting conditioning in the truly random control procedure in the rat.

Found conditioned suppression in groups of male albino rats (N = 60) which had received different truly random control procedures. Degree of conditioning did not covary with the number of CSs, UCSs, or chance pairings. Conditioning was determined by the location of pairings. If pairings occurred before nonpairings, excitatory conditioning was found. If nonpairings occurred before pairings, excitatory conditioning was not found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Backward conditioning in the rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).

Studied backward conditioning of the nictitating membrane response in 30 experimentally naive male New Zealand white rabbits. The prior exposure to unconditional stimulus-conditional stimulus pairings retarded subsequent forward conditioning. Control procedures eliminated latent inhibition and forward safety-signal effects as accounting for the data. The relevance of this report to other recent studies of backward conditioning is discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heart rate and general activity alterations of dogs during several aversive conditioning procedures.

Recorded heart rate (HR), general activity, and panel pressing while 5 dogs were exposed to aversive conditioning procedures. Several operant procedures were selected in order to manipulate panel pressing and general activity during a signal paired with shock. Data are examined in terms of 3 models of HR conditioning: The substitution classical conditioning and the afferent models both predict acceleration of HR to CS+, while the cardiac-somatic model predicts that HR will correspond to the general activity changes that occur during CS+. Both accelerations and decelerations were observed. General activity changed in the same direction as HR in 18 of 19 cases. Data also indicate that panel pressing is poorly correlated with general activity or heart rate. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis of changes in performance quality with operant conditioning procedures.

Applied operant conditioning procedures to 160 male undergraduates performing a routine, repetitive task to investigate the effectiveness of these procedures in obtaining changes in performance quality (and quantity) over time. Results indicate that (a) when the response-reinforcement contingency was shifted from emphasis on quantity to quality, behavior was not changed significantly by either verbal or monetary reinforcers. (b) During contingency shifts from quality to quantity, overt performance changed significantly using either reinforcer quality falling from high to low levels and quantity mounting from low to high levels. (c) As an effective behavioral change agent, the verbal reinforcer was either equal to or greater than the monetary reinforcer. (d) Shifting the contingency from quality to quantity yielded greater performance changes than shifting from quantity to quality. (e) Conditioning procedures, when compared to an absence of conditioning, facilitated higher levels of performance and maintenance of these higher levels over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some relationships between GSR conditioning and judgments of anxiety.

"The aim of the present study was to investigate… the relationship between GSR conditioning and various clinical judgments of anxiety in a sample of psychiatric patients conditioned under presumably optimal procedures… . anxiety groups ranked on the basis of admission psychological data… were found to be significantly different in conditionability." This was not so with Ss ranked via the Taylor MA scale, and "anxiety groups revealed no significant differences in extinction." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus and temporal cues in classical conditioning.

In 2 experiments, separate groups of rats were given stimulus conditioning, temporal conditioning, untreated control and (in Experiment 2) learned irrelevance control procedures followed by a compound with both stimulus and temporal cues. Stimulus conditioning consisted of a random 15-s duration conditioned stimulus (CS) followed by food; temporal conditioning consisted of food–food intervals of fixed 90 s (Experiment 1) or fixed 75?+?random 15 s (Experiment 2). The stimulus group abruptly increased responding after CS onset, and the temporal group gradually increased responding over the food–food interval. When the food–food interval was fixed 90 s, the temporal cue exerted stronger control in the compound, whereas when the food–food interval was fixed 75?+?random 15 s, the stimulus cue exerted stronger control. The strength of conditioning, temporal gradients of responding, and cue competition effects appear to reflect simultaneous timing of multiple intervals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of meprobamate and prochlorperasine on positive and negative conditioning.

The comparative effect of 2 tranquilizing drugs (miltown and thorazine) upon conditioning in normal adults was investigated. Conditioning involved GSR to a noxious (shock) and positive (sexually stimulating picture) stimulus. Both tranquilizers were observed to be ineffective in affecting classical conditioning procedures when the noxious UCS was used. Only miltown effected conditioning in the predicted direction when the positive UCS was used. The results are related to the differential effect of each tranquilizer upon the nervous system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decremental effects of context exposure following delay eyeblink conditioning in rabbits.

The conditioning context arises from the relatively static features of the training environment. In rabbit eyeblink conditioning, procedures that retard acquisition (conditioned stimulus [CS] preexposure, unconditioned stimulus preexposure, blocking manipulations) are attenuated by context changes. In this article the authors investigate the effect of context exposure after initial delay conditioning. After conditioned responses (CRs) were established, one group received 6 sessions of context exposure, whereas control groups either remained in their home cages or received exposure to handling and a novel context. Thereafter, all groups received CS-alone testing. The expression of CRs was substantially reduced following context exposure relative to any retention loss in the home-cage control. Exposure to handling and a novel context facilitated the CRs rather than reducing them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relative novelty of conditioning context influences directionality of glycemic conditioning.

Previous experiments in which insulin was administered in a Pavlovian conditioning procedure obtained both hyperglycemic and hypoglycemic conditioned responses (CRs). In the present experiment the relationship of the conditioning context and the housing environment was varied. Two environments, wastebasket (WB) and metal cage (MC), were varied factorially as housing and conditioning contexts. Subgroups were injected with either insulin or saline for 6 days and then, on a test day for conditioning, all animals were administered saline. The results suggested that a hyperglycemic CR could be expected when the conditioning context is different from the housing context, but a hypoglycemic CR could be expected when the conditioning context and housing context are similar. The magnitude and reliability of conditioning were greater when it was conducted in the WB context than when conditioning was conducted in the MC context. These results are discussed in terms of stress arising from relative novelty of the conditioning environment and in terms of the salience of the conditioned stimulus (CS) used in glycemic conditioning studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)