Long-delay learning with exteroceptive cue and exteroceptive reinforcement in rats

Abstract

Insufficient attention has been given to features of experimental design which differentiate long-delay learning paradigms from traditional learning paradigms. This experiment investigated an interrelated set of design features — the spatial and biological relationships of cue, behaviour and reinforcement — which characterize the taste-aversion learning paradigm. These features were replicated in a fully exteroceptive paradigm in which the cues were perceptual characteristics of an object, the behaviour was touching of the object, and the reinforcer was delayed electric shock. Long-delay learning, measured in terms of amount of touching of the object, was obtained in two separate experiments.