Eight experiments tested priming in short-term memory as a model for latent inhibition and habituation. The model postulates that the two phenomena result from reduced processing when a representation of the target stimulus is already active (primed) in short-term memory at the time of its presentation. Priming is assumed to depend on the integrity of an association formed between the contextual stimuli and the conditional stimulus (CS) during exposure. Using a procedure that should have overshadowed the context, Experiment 1 found that latent inhibition and habituation were nevertheless maintained when a second CS of either equal or shorter duration overlapped with the target during exposure. Experiment 2 found no support for the priming of a configural stimulus when simultaneous compounds were preexposed. Experiment 3 ruled out sensitization and/or pseudoconditioning as an alternative explanation of latent inhibition. Experiments 4, 5 and 6 showed that sensory preconditioning as well as habituation and latent inhibition were obtained with compound exposure, providing evidence that the added CS was indeed processed along with the target. In Experiment 7, sequential pairings produced as much latent inhibition as compounds but less sensory preconditioning. Experiment 8 showed that retardation of conditioned inhibition was not attenuated by compound exposure. These results are interpreted as consistent with a correlational approach to classical conditioning.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.71881 |
| Date | January 1983 |
| Creators | Mercier, Pierre |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 000186403, proquestno: AAINK66617, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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