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. 2017 Aug;70(8):1504-1515.
doi: 10.1080/17470218.2016.1188973. Epub 2016 Jun 9.

Mediated configural learning in rats

Tzu-Ching E Lin  1 , Natasha M Dumigan  1 , Sergio A Recio  2 , R C Honey  1
Affiliations

Mediated configural learning in rats

Tzu-Ching E Lin et al. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2017 Aug.

Abstract

Three experiments investigated mediated configural learning in male rats. In Experiment 1, after exposure to audio-visual compounds AX and BY, rats received trials where X was paired with shock, and Y was not. The idea that conditioning with X enables the evoked configural representation of AX to be linked to shock received support from the facts that while AX provoked more fear than BX, there was no difference between BY and AY. Similarly, Experiment 2 showed that after exposure to AX and BY, separate pairings of X and Y with shock resulted in more fear to AX and BY than AY and BX. In Experiment 3, rats in group consistent received separate exposures to A and X in Context C, and B and Y in D, while those in group inconsistent received A and X (and B and Y) in both C and D. After rats had received shocks in both C and D, rats in group consistent showed more fear to AX and BY than to BX and AY, but this was not the case in group inconsistent. These results indicate that configural representations, formed either by presenting auditory and visual stimuli as parts of a compound or in a shared context, are subject to a process of mediated learning.

Keywords: Associative learning; configuration.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Mean test ratios (+SEM) for Experiments 1–3. A score below .50 indicates that the exposed compounds evoked more fear than novel compounds. The asterisks indicate significant differences between the pairs of bars for Experiments 1 and 3, and that the composite bar in Experiment 2 differed from .50. The AX ratios in Experiment 1 and the ratios for group consistent in Experiment 3 also differed significantly from .50.
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