Evidence for an association between the discriminative stimulus and the response-outcome association in instrumental learning

Abstract

In 4 experiments, rats received 1 of several outcomes for engaging in various instrumental responses in the presence of discriminative stimuli. Discriminative stimuli shared some response-outcome relations but not others. When a response was subsequently extinguished in the presence of 1 discriminative stimulus, that produced relatively more decrement in responding in other stimuli that shared the same response-outcome relation. Other discriminative stimuli, in the presence of which that response had been reinforced by other outcomes and in which the original outcome had reinforced another response, were less affected. Moreover, postextinction devaluation of that outcome suggested that the particular response-outcome relation extinguished had undergone decrement. These results suggest that discriminative stimuli have relatively specific associations with the response-outcome relations that obtain in their presence.