| Abstract: | Preconditioning experience with the UCS retards subsequent excitatory conditioning. Three experiments demonstrated that the UCS retardation effect is attenuated by associative manipulations of contextual stimuli of the UCS preexposure environment. The UCS retardation effect was reduced by (a) altering contextual stimuli between preexposure and conditioning (Exp I, 49 New Zealand male rabbits; Exp II, 28 Ss); and (b) latently inhibiting contextual stimuli subsequent to UCS (Exp III, 36 Ss). Although UCS preexposure retarded excitatory conditioning, results of Exp IV (48 Ss) demonstrated that UCS preexposure facilitated inhibitory conditioning. Overall findings indicate that an association between contextual stimuli and preexposed UCS contributes to the effects of preconditioning UCS experience on subsequent learning. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
