Abstract
To investigate blocking by drug-induced stimuli and visual stimuli, three groups of rats were trained to escape shock in a T-maze by choosing the left or right arm. During the first phase of the experiment, the rats in Group 1 (drug group) were trained to make one response in the presence of the drug stimulus (10 mg/kg of pentobarbital) and the other response in the absence of the drug stimulus. The rats in Group 2 (light group) were trained to make one response in the presence of the light stimulus and the other response in the dark. During the second phase, rats in both groups were trained with both drug and light stimuli relevant. During the third phase, generalization tests with various doses of pentobarbital were conducted in both the light and dark conditions in all three groups. Training with drug as opposed to nondrug discrimination attenuated the stimulus control by the light added in the second phase; training with light as opposed to darkness discrimination attenuated the stimulus control by the drug added in the second phase. Rats in Group 3 (control group) were trained to make one response in the presence of the drug stimulus and the other response in its absence, but there was no systematic relationship between the light as opposed to darkness and the conditions of reinforcement. This yielded dose-generalization gradients that were not significantly different in the light and dark conditions. The results were similar to those which demonstrate blocking in experiments using exteroceptive stimuli.
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This work was supported by grants from the Magnus Bergvall Foundation, 1985, the Swedish Council for the Planning and Coordination of research (126/83 and 208:2/84), the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (427/82, 670/83, 257/84, and 252/87), and the Swedish Medical Research Council (5717-04 and 5517-05).
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Järbe, T.U.C., Johansson, B. Stimulus blocking during compound discrimination training with pentobarbital and visual stimuli. Animal Learning & Behavior 17, 199–204 (1989). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03207635
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03207635