Transfer of conditioned inhibition across different aversive reinforcers in the rat

Abstract

Three experiments using a conditioned suppression procedure in rats assessed transfer of conditioned inhibition across different aversive reinforcers. Experiment 1, using shock and car horn blast as reinforcers, showed that a noise negatively correlated with 0.7-mA shock between sessions attenuated suppression of lever pressing elicited by the signals for 0.7-mA shock and 110-db horn blast. Similarly, when the noise signaled the omission of horn blast, it attenuated suppression elicited by the signals for horn blast and shock. Experiment 2, using the same procedure, replicated transfer of conditioned inhibition from shock to horn found in Experiment 1, and indicated that such effects should be attributed to associative factors. Experiment 3, using the conditioned inhibition paradigm and different chambers during training and testing, replicated transfer from horn to shock and indicated that transfer cannot be attributed to multiple-background-reinforcer associations established during inhibitory training. The results of these experiments have implications for theories of conditioned inhibition.