Open AccessLight‐induced inhibition in a delayed matching task with rhesus monkeys: Effects of point of illumination during the delay 1
Author(s) -
TAKAHASHI MASAHARU
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
japanese psychological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5884
pISSN - 0021-5368
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-5884.1996.tb00019.x
Subject(s) - engram , matching (statistics) , task (project management) , psychology , interval (graph theory) , darkness , audiology , mathematics , statistics , cognitive psychology , optics , physics , combinatorics , medicine , management , economics
Using a delayed matching‐to‐sample task with samples of color, two experiments investigated the effects of light presented during a delay interval on matching accuracy in two monkeys. In Experiment 1, 5 s of light during a delay interval of 24 s produced deficits in matching accuracy (retroactive inhibition), and placement of 5 s of light at the end of a 24‐s delay tended to lead to slightly larger deficits than placement at the beginning (the beginning‐end effect). These findings were replicated in Experiment 2. The pooled data from the two experiments indicated that both effects were significant. Additionally, it was shown in Experiment 2 that performances were better on trials with a 24‐s delay with 5‐s illumination at the beginning than on trials with a 5‐s delay filled with illumination. These results seem to be more in line with a theoretical mechanism in which illumination produces retroactive inhibition by making memory traces temporarily inaccessible, and partial recovery of accessibility of the memory trace occurs during a period of darkness following exposure to illumination.