Blocking by Fixed and Variable Stimuli: Effects of Stimulus Distribution on Blocking

Jennings, Dómhnall J.; Bonardi, Charlotte

doi:10.1080/17470218.2016.1216574

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…For example, it might for some reason have been easier to respond during a fixed-duration CS; however, we observed higher levels of responding to a cue trained with a fixed duration even when the animals were tested under identical conditions (Jennings et al, 2013). Furthermore, we also demonstrated that fixed-duration cues produce better overshadowing and better blocking than their variable counterparts (Bonardi, Mondragón, Brilot & Jennings, 2015; Jennings & Bonardi, 2017). Conditioning theories would interpret these findings as evidence that fixed-duration cues acquire more associative strength than variable CSs.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 52%

“…Experiments 1 and 2 examined learning in a trace conditioning task, in which the CS was fixed, but the trace interval was either fixed or variable. In experiments using delay conditioning, we have observed higher levels of responding during a CS that is fixed than during one that is variable (Bonardi et al, 2015; Jennings et al, 2013; Jennings & Bonardi, 2017). We have argued here that this could either be due to the temporal distribution of the CS per se or to the fact that CS onset was only informative with respect to the time of food delivery in the fixed case.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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The effects of stimulus distribution form during trace conditioning

Bonardi

Jennings

2018

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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Three experiments examined the effect of distribution form of the trace interval on trace conditioning. In Experiments 1 and 2, two groups of rats were conditioned to a fixed-duration conditioned stimulus (CS) in a trace interval procedure; rats in Group Fix received a fixed-duration trace interval, whereas for rats in Group Var the trace interval was of variable duration. Responding during the CS was higher in Group Var than in Group Fix, whereas during the trace interval this difference in responding reversed-Group Fix showed higher response rates than Group Var. Experiment 3 examined whether the greater response rate observed during the CS in Group Var was due to a performance effect or the acquisition of greater associative strength by the CS. Following trace conditioning, the rats from Experiment 1 underwent a second phase of delay conditioning with the same CS; a 5-s auditory stimulus was presented in compound with the last 5 s of the 15-s CS, and the unconditioned stimulus (US) was delivered at the offset of the CSs. On test with the auditory stimulus alone, subjects in Group Var showed lower response rates during the auditory stimulus than subjects in Group Fix. We interpreted these findings as evidence that the superior responding in Group Var during the CS was a result of it acquiring greater associative strength than in Group Fix.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

The effects of stimulus distribution form during trace conditioning

Bonardi

Jennings

2018

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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“…These results indicate that taste experience specifically reduces the response variability during the palatability epoch—the epoch known to be critically impacted during CTA learning (Grossman et al, 2008; Moran and Katz, 2014; Arieli et al, 2022). Consistent with behavioral work showing enhanced learning with low conditioned stimulus variation (e.g., Jennings and Bonardi, 2017), the increase in across-trial reliability we see here may well make it easier for the rats to learn CTA. Another implication of this result is that, if each neuron in the ensemble is coding more reliably, the within-response transitions of ensemble code itself might be more coherent (see Jones et al, 2007; Sadacca et al, 2016).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…We hypothesized that the increase in discriminability may be tied to an increased reliability of pre-CTA sucrose responses (evident through higher signal-to-noise ratio (i.e., reduction of noise)). This hypothesis, if it is true, would (not incidentally) also explain how taste experience leads to LE of CTA learning because the reliability of the CS can critically impact the quality of associative learning (Jennings and Bonardi, 2017).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taste Experience Enhances Cortical Response Reliability during Latent Enhancement of Taste Aversion Learning

Flores,

Lin

2023

Preprint

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Learning is not as simple as the association of paired stimuli in a vacuum. For example, benign experience with a taste stimulus weakens future conditioned taste aversions (CTA) to that taste—a phenomenon known as latent inhibition—and enhances later CTA to a novel taste (latent enhancement [LE]; Flores et al., 2016; Flores et al., 2018). Our recent investigations on how benign taste experience impacts cortical responses revealed an increase in the discriminability/salience of Gustatory Cortical (GC) responses to a new taste following experience offering a clue into potential underlying mechanisms for LE on CTA (Flores et al., 2022). Here, we predict that the previously reported increase in response discriminability following taste experience is associated with a reduction of variability that has been shown to promote learning. Our results support this prediction and reveal enhanced trial-to-trial consistency of single-neuron sucrose responses and coherent activity across ensemble neurons before CTA learning. Connecting this result to learning, we further show that the distinction between pre- and post-CTA sucrose responses are indeed greater in rats with prior benign taste experience. Overall, these results suggest that following benign experience, taste coding in GC becomes more reliable (at both the single-neuron and ensemble levels) providing a potential mechanism which may contribute to the stronger CTA acquisition seen in LE of learning.Significance StatementAnimals and humans readily learn the consequences of consuming a specific taste and react by changing their behaviors. We have shown that even seemingly inconsequential and benign taste experiences – which are arguably more common - can enhance taste behavior and learning. The work presented here is the first to evaluate how benign experience alters learning-related cortical processing dynamics usingin-vivoelectrophysiology in freely behaving rats. We report that benign taste experience alters cortical plasticity which underlies the enhancement of learning. This unravels a new area of chemosensory research and may shed light on how daily taste experiences impact the neural dynamics of future taste consumption and learning.

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“…This approach has been used by others (e.g., Holland, 2000 ). An alternative approach to test the strength of learning, independent from performance effects, has been to assess the ability of the cues to restrict learning with other cues ( Bonardi et al, 2015 ; Jennings & Bonardi, 2017 ). For example, if cues differ in their strength of learning, then they should differ in their ability to block the acquisition or expression of conditioned responding with new cues.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cue duration determines response rate but not rate of acquisition of Pavlovian conditioning in mice

Austen

Sanderson

2020

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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The duration of a conditioned stimulus (CS) is a key determinant of Pavlovian conditioning. Rate estimation theory (RET) proposes that reinforcement rate is calculated over cumulative exposure to a cue and the reinforcement rate of a cue, relative to the background reinforcement rate, determines the speed of acquisition of conditioned responding. Consequently, RET predicts that shorter-duration cues require fewer trials to acquisition than longer-duration cues due to the difference in reinforcement rates. We tested this prediction by reanalysing the results of a previously published experiment. Mice received appetitive Pavlovian conditioning of magazine approach behaviour with a 10-s CS and a 40-s CS. Cue duration did not affect the rate at which responding emerged or the rate at which it peaked. The 10-s CS did elicit higher levels of responding than the 40-s CS. These results are not consistent with rate estimation theory. Instead, they are consistent with an associative analysis that assumes that asymptotic levels of responding reflect the balance between increments and decrements in associative strength across cumulative exposure to a cue.

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Blocking by Fixed and Variable Stimuli: Effects of Stimulus Distribution on Blocking

Cited by 3 publications

References 26 publications

The effects of stimulus distribution form during trace conditioning

The effects of stimulus distribution form during trace conditioning

Taste Experience Enhances Cortical Response Reliability during Latent Enhancement of Taste Aversion Learning

Cue duration determines response rate but not rate of acquisition of Pavlovian conditioning in mice

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