Acquired equivalence of cues by presentation in a common context in rats |
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Authors: | Mika?l Molet Holly Miller Thomas R Zentall |
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Institution: | (1) Universit? de Lille, Nord de France, Domaine Universitaire du “Pont de Bois”, rue du Barreau, BP 60149, 59653 Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex, France;(2) University of Kentucky, Lexington, UK |
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Abstract: | It is well established that humans and other animals may treat two perceptually different cues alike, if the cues have been
individually paired with a common antecedent or a common consequence. Recently, Molet et al. (Psychon Bull Rev 18:618–623,
2011) reported evidence for a new form of acquired equivalence in human conditional discrimination, namely context-mediated equivalence.
In the present research, using a flavor conditioning procedure, we asked whether rats would show similar context-mediated
equivalence to demonstrate that this new form of acquired equivalence is a general phenomenon. Rats experienced two flavor
cues A and B each presented either in the same context, X, or each in its own distinctive context, X or Y. Subsequently, the
rats experienced B with sucrose in a third context, Z, and then the generalization of conditioning to A was assessed. When
tested in Context Z, consumption of A was more marked when A and B had both been presented in the same context than when they
had been presented in two different contexts. Thus, importantly, in the absence of the training context, cues that shared
a common context at different times came to be treated as equivalent. This represents the first evidence of context-mediated
equivalence in a nonhuman species. |
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