Conditioned inhibition in feature negative discrimination learning with pigeons

Abstract

Discrimination performance was investigated with pigeons using feature negative (FN) discrimination procedures which differed in the temporal arrangement of the stimuli on S− trials. In both procedures, a single common element was presented on reinforced (S+) trials. In thesimultaneous FN procedure, a distinguishing element was presented simultaneously with the common element of S− trials. In thesequential FN procedure, the distinguishing element preceded onset of the common element on S− trials. In two experiments, the sequential FN procedure yielded better discrimination performance. In Experiment 1, a summation test designed to separate learning and performance variables indicated that sequential FN subjects had learned the negative relationship between the distinguishing element and reinforcement while simultaneous FN subjects had not. In Experiment 2, summation and acquisition tests indicated that the distinguishing element developed inhibitory properties in the sequential FN procedure but not in the simultaneous FN procedure.