Abstract
In four conditioned suppression experiments with rats (Rattus norvegicus), backward pairings of a shock unconditioned stimulus (US) and a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) eliminated an already established conditioned response (CR), but there was recovery of the CR if the shock was later withheld. In Experiment 1, there was recovery after backward pairings, regardless of whether the period after the US was normally shock free or not. In Experiment 2, the occurrence of recovery depended on the CS’s being presented closely after the US in response elimination. Levels of recovery were positively correlated with the resistance of the response to elimination during backward pairings (Experiments 3 and 4). Taken together, these data support the notion that recovery after backward pairings is a form of renewal (see, e.g., Bouton, 1991) and is not due toprotection from extinction.
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Support for this research was provided by research grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the University of Winnipeg. Experiments 1–4 were conducted as part of the undergraduate honors thesis of C.A.S.
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Williams, D.A., Sly, C.A. Recovery of conditioned suppression after backward pairings. Animal Learning & Behavior 27, 152–167 (1999). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199672
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199672