Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/7856

Title: Summation of reinforcement rates when conditioned stimuli are presented in compound
Authors: Andrew, Benjamin J
Harris, Justin
Keywords: rat
delay conditioning
magazine approach
associative strength
variable interval
Issue Date: Oct-2011
Publisher: American Psychological Association
Citation: Andrew, B. J., & Harris, J. A. (2011). Summation of reinforcement rates when conditioned stimuli are presented in compound. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 37, 385-393
Abstract: Three experiments used delay conditioning of magazine approach in rats to examine the summation of responding when two conditioned stimuli (CSs) are presented together as a compound. The duration of each CS varied randomly from trial-to-trial around a mean that differed between the CSs. This meant that the rats’ response rate to each CS was systematically related to the reinforcement rate of that CS, but remained steady as time elapsed during the CS (Harris & Carpenter, in press; Harris, Gharaei, & Pincham, in press). When the rats were presented with a compound of two CSs that had been conditioned separately, they responded more during the compound than during either of the CSs individually. More significantly, however, in all three experiments, the rats responded to the compound at the same rate as they responded to a third CS that had been reinforced at a rate equal to the sum of the reinforcement rates of the two CSs in compound. We discuss the implications of this finding for associative models (e.g., Rescorla & Wagner, 1972) and rate-based models (Gallistel & Gibbon, 2000) of conditioning.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2123/7856
Type of Work: Article
Type of Publication: Post-print
Appears in Collections:Research Papers and Publications. Science
Research Papers and Publications. Psychology

Files in This Item:

File Description SizeFormat
Andrew & Harris 2011 JEPABP vol 37 pp 385-393.pdf411.69 kBAdobe PDFView/Open

Items in Sydney eScholarship Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.