This paper reviews research designed to investigate the temporal control of inhibitory responding using rats as subjects. One area of investigation has focused on the role of temporal variables in conditioned inhibition produced using Pavlov's (1927) procedure. These studies have found that evidence of conditioned inhibition obtained by negative summation testing is strongest when the conditioned inhibitor signals the omission of the US at the same temporal location as a transfer excitor signals presentation of the US (e.g., Barnet & Miller, 1996). Similarly, retardation of acquisition of behavioral control by a previously inhibitory CS is maximal when the inhibitory CS is paired with the US at the same temporal location as the inhibitor had previously signaled US omission (Burger, Denniston, & Miller, 2001). Other lines of research designed to assess the associative structure of temporal control of inhibition (e.g., Denniston, Blaisdell, & Miller, 2004) are reviewed, as is the assessment of temporal control of inhibition produced through extinction (Denniston & Miller, 2003). These collective observations are discussed in terms of the temporal coding hypothesis (Matzel, Held, & Miller, 1988).
Timing of Omitted Events: An Analysis of Temporal Control of Inhibitory BehaviorThe analysis of temporal variables in conditioned behavior has been widely studied since the pioneering work of Pavlov (1927). Pavlov's studies of inhibition of delay revealed that following conditioned stimulus (CS)-unconditioned stimulus (US) pairings with a CS of long duration, conditioned responding was maximal during the latter parts of the CS. Pavlov's early work both highlighted the importance of timing in conditioned behavior and provided the foundation for a thorough analysis of how animals both perceive and use temporal information. For the last 40 years, the study of animal timing has been inspired and led by Russell Church. A few of the many great contributions of Church's work include the development of the peak procedure (Roberts & Church, 1978) and theorizing concerning internal clocks (Church, 1984) that model how animals learn about expected times of reinforcement and subsequently use this information in order to control conditioned responding. In contrast to this large literature, the present article summarizes the findings from a far smaller collection of research that has attempted to study analogous questions in inhibitory learning; specifically how animals temporally encode omitted events.Mailing Address: James C. Denniston, Department of Psychology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608, TEL: (828) 262-8640, FAX: (828) 262-2974, E-mail: dennistonjc@appstate.edu. Support for this research was provided by National Institute of Mental Health Grant 33881. We thank Bridget McConnell, Gonzalo P. Urcelay, Koji Urushihara, Daniel S. Wheeler, and James Witnauer for comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. For information concerning this research, contact James C. Denniston at dennistonjc@appstate.edu.
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