Three experiments used an appetitive Pavlovian conditioning procedure to investigate the ability of the context to generate excitation. Discrete stimuli (CSs) signalling food unconditioned stimuli (USs) were used to decrease contextual conditioning. Detailed observations of the behaviours of rats during and immediately preceding the presentation of CSs, and in an event-free period were analysed. Experiment 1 showed that a discrete visual CS was able to interfere with contextual conditioning because it was a more efficient cue for food than the context. Experiment 2 found that an auditory CS could reduce contextual conditioning in a similar manner but the topography of responding during the event-free period was specific to the modality of the CS. Experiment 3 demonstrated that signal-appropriate responding during the event-free period occurred only if the CS was a signal for reinforcement.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.59864 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Steinwald, Hannah |
| 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 | Master of Arts (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001171131, proquestno: AAIMM66506, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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