Abstract
Two methodologies that have been successful in producing emergent symmetry in some nonhuman species include multiple exemplar training (sea lions) and successive conditional discrimination training of both arbitrary and key identity relations (pigeons). Two experiments were conducted to examine these procedures in rats using olfactory stimuli. In Experiment 1, sets of arbitrary conditional discriminations were trained in eight rats using a successive (go, no-go) procedure, followed by symmetry tests and then direct training of symmetry relations for four of the rats. Acquisition of bidirectional conditional discriminations was slow and limited the number of exemplars that could be trained. However, this multiple exemplar training did not result in emergent symmetry. Experiment 2 was a systematic replication of a study by Prichard et al. (Prichard et al., Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 104:133–145, 2015) that failed to find symmetry in an extension of Urcuioli’s (Urcuioli, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 90:257–282, 2008) theory of stimulus class formation that better controlled for complications in presentation of odor stimuli. Five rats were trained on identity and arbitrary conditional discriminations with odors, then tested for emergent symmetry across eight probe sessions. Although there was some evidence for symmetry in most rats, it was ephemeral, being limited to the first few probe sessions. The search for symmetry in nonhumans continues to be elusive but using successive procedures that train arbitrary and key identity relations appears to be the more fruitful avenue in rats.
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We thank the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Center for the Support of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CSURF) for financial support to purchase supplies for this research.
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All authors contributed to study conception and design, writing, and data analysis. Katherine Dyer and Tiffany Phasukkan prepared materials and collected data as part of their master’s theses at University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Katherine Bruce and Mark Galizio synthesized and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript and all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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All procedures were reviewed and approved by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and conform to the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
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The authors thank Sarah Accattato, Haily Kelliher, Madeleine Mason and Logan Richardson for assistance with data collection. Special thanks to Rick Shull who suggested the possibility of asymmetric trace odor compounds to us.
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Bruce, K., Dyer, K., Phasukkan, T. et al. Two Directions in a Search for Symmetry in Rats. Psychol Rec 72, 465–480 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-021-00490-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-021-00490-x