A change of context can enhance performance of an aversive but not of an appetitive conditioned response.

Abstract

In four experiments rats received pairings of one auditory CS and mild shock in one context and of a second auditory CS and shock in a second context. When tested with one of these CSs in the context in which it had never been experienced, they consistently showed enhanced levels of suppression. In one of these experiments, suppression was measured over 15-sec intervals throughout a 90-sec long CS. A change of context resulted in an increased level of suppression at all points throughout the CS, a finding which does not encourage the belief that it was due to an increase in unconditioned suppression at the onset of the CS. Another experiment provided equally little support for an alternative account in terms of increased arousal. The results therefore suggest that a change of context can increase the level of conditioned suppression elicited by a CS paired with mild shock. Two final experiments employing the same CSs and contexts, however, found no evidence that a change of context had any effect at all on the performance of an appetitively conditioned response.