Abstract
Investigations studying fear in the rat have reported that a CS paired in a backward relationship with the US can acquire excitatory properties. This procedure does not appear to be effective in rabbit eyelid conditioning. The present studies examined Rescorla’s proposal that an excitatory effect might be observed with US-CS pairings in eyelid conditioning if the CS was tested in a second-order conditioning paradigm. The results provided no support for this proposal because second-order eyelid conditioning was just as difficult to demonstrate as was backward eyelid conditioning.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Reference Notes
Holmes, J. D. Effects of backward pairings of the CS and the US on classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane response in the rabbit. PhD dissertation, University of Iowa, 1971.
Rescorla, R. A. “Second Order Conditioning.” Invited address, 48th annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago, May 1976.
Popik, R. S., Stern, S. D., & Frey, P. W. Second-order conditioning: The interstimulus interval and the procedure for intermixing first-order and second-order trials. Unpublished manuscript.
Sears, R. J., & Frey, P. W. The eyeblink as a time-locked response: Implications for serial and second-order conditioning. Unpublished manuscript.
References
Frey, P. W., & Gavin, W. Overnight incubation of a partially conditioned eyeblink response in rabbits. Animal Learning & Behavior, 1975, 3, 114–118.
Frey, P. W., & Misfeldt, T. J. Rabbit eyelid conditioning as a function of the intertrial interval. Psychonomic Science, 1967, 9, 137–138.
Heth, C. D. Simultaneous and backward fear conditioning as a function of number of CS-US pairings. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 1976, 2, 117–129.
Heth, C. D., & Rescorla, R. A. Simultaneous and backward fear conditioning in the rat. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1973, 82, 434–443.
Keith-Lucas, T., & Guttman, N. Robust single-trial delayed backward conditioning. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1975, 88, 468–476.
Mahoney, W. J., & Ayres, J. J. B. One-trial simultaneous and backward fear conditioning as reflected in conditioned suppression of licking in rats. Animal Learning & Behavior, 1976, 4, 357–362.
Maisiak, R., & Frey, P. W. Second-order conditioning: The importance of stimulus overlap on second-order trials. Animal Learning & Behavior, 1977, 5, 309–314.
Moscovitch, A., & LoLordo, V. Role of safety in the Pavlovian backward fear conditioning procedure. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1968, 66, 673–678.
Pavlov, I. P. Conditioned reflexes. (Trans, by G. V. Anrep) New York: Dover, 1960. (Originally published, 1927.)
Plotkin, H. C, & Oakley, D. A. Backward conditioning in the rabbit. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1975, 88, 586–590.
Rescorla, R. A. Second order conditioning of Pavlovian conditioned inhibition. Learning and Motivation, 1976, 7, 161–172.
Schneiderman, N. Response system differences in aversive classical conditioning. In F. Black & W. F. Prokasy (Eds.), Classical conditioning: II. Current research and theory. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1972.
Siegel, S., & Domjan, M. Backward conditioning as an inhibitory procedure. Learning and Motivation, 1971, 2, 1–11.
Smith, M. C, Coleman, S. R., & Gormezano, I. Classical conditioning of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response at backward, simultaneous and forward CS-US intervals. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1969, 69, 226–231.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This report is based on a thesis submitted to the Graduate School of Northwestern University by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MS degree. It was supported by NSF Grant BMS 75-02313, awarded to the second author.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Stern, S.D., Frey, P.W. Backward conditioning of the rabbit eyelid response: A test using second-order conditioning. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 11, 231–234 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336816
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336816