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POSITIVE CONTRAST, NEGATIVE INDUCTION, AND INHIBITORY STIMULUS CONTROL IN THE RAT 1
Author(s) -
Gutman Arthur
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1977.27-219
Subject(s) - stimulus (psychology) , extinction (optical mineralogy) , interval (graph theory) , mathematics , audiology , psychology , optics , combinatorics , medicine , physics , cognitive psychology
In Experiment I, 24 rats were trained on a multiple variable‐interval variable‐interval schedule with a doorlight and white noise serving as component cues. Two groups were then shifted to a multiple extinction variable‐interval schedule, and a third group was maintained on the multiple variable‐interval variable‐interval schedule. The multiple extinction variable‐interval condition produced positive contrast when either the light or noise signalled extinction, and both of these cues acquired inhibitory stimulus control as measured by a combined cue test. In Experiment II, the multiple variable‐interval variable‐interval condition was shifted to multiple extinction variable‐interval for one group, to multiple variable‐time variable‐interval for a second group, and was unchanged for the third group. The two experimental conditions produced identical patterns of response‐rate reduction in the altered component, but the multiple extinction variable‐interval condition produced positive contrast, whereas the multiple variable‐time variable‐interval condition did not. Subsequent combined cue and resistance to reinforcement tests revealed that the cue signalling extinction acquired stronger inhibitory stimulus control than the cue signalling variable time.