Abstract
Rats received training in which two auditory target stimuli, X and Y, were signaled by two visual stimuli, A and B, and followed by food (i.e., A→X1, B→Y+). The test consisted of presentations of X and Y preceded either by the same signal as during training (same trials: A→X, B→Y) or by the alternative signal (different trials: A→Y, B→X). After 8 training sessions, the animals responded less on same trials than on different trials; this effect was significantly reduced after 24 training sessions. In two additional experiments, animals that had also experienced presentations of A and B alone, either before or during training, showed the opposite pattern of results, responding more on same trials than on different trials. These results are interpreted as being due to the interaction between the effects of occasion setting andnegative priming (see Wagner, 1981).
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This research was financed by a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. We thank Richard Dale for care of the animals. A brief report of some of the experiments presented here was incorporated into Hall and Mondragón (1998). E.M. is now at the Department of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire.
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Mondragón, E., Bonardi, C. & Hall, G. Negative priming and occasion setting in an appetitive Pavlovian procedure. Animal Learning & Behavior 31, 281–291 (2003). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195989
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195989