Abstract
Thirty-two albino rabbits were paired in an avoidance-yoke (A-Y) paradigm and received five days of nictitating membrane (NM) conditioning in a 2 by 4 factorial design with interstimulus intervals (ISI) of 250 and 1000 msec crossed with 15, 40, 65, or 90 trials/day. Performance of avoidance Ss was superior to yoked controls only with an ISI of 1000 msec. Failure to observe a significant A-Y separation with an ISI of 250 msec was attributed to the uniformly fast conditioning possible with this ISI. Animals receiving a smaller number of trials/day gave more CRs over the first 75 trials and attained the same level of conditioning as the 90 trial/day group. These findings suggest that rabbits consolidate their training overnight.
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1. This investigation was supported in part by NSF Grant GB-5480.
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Hupka, R.B., Massaro, D.W. & Moore, J.W. Yoked comparisons of instrumental-avoidance and classical conditioning of the rabbit nictitating membrane response as a function of interstimulus interval and number of trials per day. Psychon Sci 12, 93–94 (1968). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331209
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331209