Retrospective revaluation effects in the conditioned suppression procedure

Abstract

In four experiments using the conditioned suppression procedure, rats received initial reinforced training with two compound stimuli, AX and BY, each compound consisting of one auditory and one visual element. After a second phase of training consisting of nonreinforced presentations of A, the suppression governed by X and Y was tested. In Experiment 1 X evoked slightly less suppression than Y (a mediated extinction effect). This outcome was obtained when the auditory cues served as X and Y(Experiment 1a), when the visual cues served as X and Y(Experiment 1b), and when the number of nonreinforced presentations of A was increased (Experiment 1c) from 18 to 216. In Experiment 2, however, in which the initial training was given with serial compounds (i.e., A --> X and B --> Y) X evoked more suppression than Y (a recovery-from-overshadowing effect). It was argued that extinction of A engages two learning processes, one increasing the effective associative strength of its associate (X) and one reducing it, and that the balance between these two depends on the specific conditions of training.

Mediated Generalization in Discrimination Learning by Rhesus Monkeys

“…If, following compound training, one element of the compound was paired with reward rather than nonrewarded, the subsequent propensity to respond to the other element was enhanced. Athough this effect is at variance with most studies of human causal judgements (e.g., Chapman, 1991;Dickinson & Burke, 1996;Wasserman & Berglan, 1998, but see Dickinson, 2001) and a number of animal conditioning studies (e.g., Miller et al, 1992;Miller & Matute, 1996), the mediated generalization that we observed following simultaneous compound training replicates the effect observed by Shevill and Hall (2004) and others (e.g., Balleine et al, 2005).…”

“…Shevill and Hall (2004) analysed their results in terms of the role of within-compound associations in determining learning and performance. As they noted, a stimulus compound can support two independent associations between the representations of the elements of the compound; for example, an A)a association and an a)A association in the case of one of our stimulus compound Aa.…”

The selectivity of aversive memory reconsolidation and extinction processes depends on the initial encoding of the Pavlovian association

“…According to the literature, depending on training conditions, the retrospective evaluation triggered by extinction will induce either mediated-extinction of the target stimulus or the opposite, recovery-from-overshadowing (i.e., increase of responding to one component following the extinction of the other). Parameters such as relative salience, simultaneous vs. serial stimulus presentations, and short or long duration of the compound stimulus may be of particular importance in controlling the effect (e.g., Shevill and Hall 2004;Liljeholm and Balleine 2006;Sissons et al 2009). Therefore, it remains to be determined whether our paradigm favors symmetrical/bidirectional mediated-extinction, and thus, potentially, reconsolidation processes.…”

Challenges Facing Contemporary Associative Approaches to Acquired Behavior

“…Such phenomena are collectively called retrospective revaluation. Increases in responding to the target cue as a result of posttraining deflation of a companion stimulus are relatively easy to obtain (e.g., Denniston, Savastano, Blaisdell, & Miller, 2003), but a few failures to obtain the effect have been reported (e.g., Holland, 1999) suggesting that this effect like most effects is parameter dependent (Shevill & Hall, 2004). In contrast, decreases in responding to a target cue as a result of posttraining inflation of a companion stimulus is rarely observed when the target cue signals a biologically significant outcome such as food or footshock (e.g., Grahame, Barnet, & Miller, 1992;Miller, Hallam, & Grahame, 1990), but can be observed if the procedure is embedded in a sensory preconditioning procedure so that the target cue does not have the opportunity to control behavior until after the inflation treatment is complete.…”