three-laboratory-procedures-for-assessing-different-manifestations

Three Laboratory Procedures for Assessing Different Manifestations of Impulsivity in Rats

The present article provides a guide for the conduction and analysis of three conditioning-based protocols to evaluate impulsivity in rats. Impulsivity is ...

Universidad Iberoamericana

Some of the most frequently used methods in the study of conditioned reinforcement seem to be insufficient to demonstrate the effect. The clearest way to assess this phenomenon is the training of a new response. In the present study, rats were exposed to a situation in which a primary reinforcer and an arbitrary stimulus were paired and subsequently the effect of this arbitrary event was assessed by presenting it following a new response. Subjects under these conditions emitted more responses compared to their own responding before the pairing and to their responding on a similar operandum that was available concurrently that had no programmed consequences. Response rates also were higher compared to responding by subjects in similar conditions in which there was no contingency (a) between the arbitrary stimulus and the reinforcer, (b) between the response and the arbitrary stimulus or (c) both. Results are discussed in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions to study conditioned reinforcement.

Training a new response using conditioned reinforcement.

Conditioned inhibition is a Pavlovian learning phenomenon in which a stimulus that predicts the absence of an otherwise expected outcome comes to control an organism's responding. Such responding usually manifests as a tendency that opposes that of a stimulus that predicts the outcome, also known as a conditioned excitor. Some learning theorists have expressed concerns about the validity and usefulness of conditioned inhibition as a concept; claims that may have negatively affected the reputation of this research area. This article offers a contemporary review of critiques of and controversies over conditioned inhibition and of arguments advanced in its defense. Some of these disputes have been reported in previous reviews, but here we have sought to compile the most representative among them. We also propose new arguments that answer some of those critiques. We then address the most prominent theoretical accounts of conditioned inhibition, identifying commonalities and differences among some of them. Finally, we review recent studies of conditioned inhibition. Some of the new findings contribute to rejecting early critiques of conditioned inhibition and others further elucidate the nature of this phenomenon. A new set of studies suggests that a deficit in conditioned inhibition characterizes some psychiatric conditions, illustrating its translational importance. We believe that new generations of researchers will benefit from being aware of past controversies and how they may have shaped the current conception of conditioned inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Article	Year
Training a new response using conditioned reinforcement. Behavioural processes\| PubMed ID: 21458545	2011
Conditioned inhibition: Historical critiques and controversies in the light of recent advances. Journal of experimental psychology. Animal learning and cognition\| PubMed ID: 30604993	2019

Rodrigo Sosa

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