Increasing previous but not concurrent extinction attenuates the "extinction makes acquisition context specific" effect in human predictive learning.

Four experiments in human predictive learning evaluated whether the extinction makes the acquisition context specific (EMACS) effect is attenuated when the increase in prediction error that extinction produces disappears. Participants had to evaluate the relationship between a given food (cue) that was ingested by an imaginary client of a given restaurant (context) and a potential gastric illness (outcome). The task was implemented using Gorilla online software. All participants received the relevant training in context A, and equivalent exposure to context B. Cue E was presented paired with the outcome in all groups. Cue E was then either extinguished (group E) or not extinguished (group NE), either previously or concurrently to training of the target cue (P). P was then tested in contexts A and B. When extinction was conducted concurrently, performance to P became context-dependent regardless of the number of extinction trials (12 or 24)-the EMACS effect. The EMACS effect disappeared when extinction was elongated to 24 trials, and conducted before acquisition of P. Implications of these results for attentional explanations of context processing are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Reversing the relationship between a nontarget cue and the outcome facilitates subsequent human predictive learning.

Two experiments were conducted to test the effect of experiencing associative interference on later learning. A predictive learning task was used in which human participants had to evaluate whether plants would grow or not (Outcome) after being watered with different fertilizers (Cues). Experiment 1 found that the increase in the prediction error produced by following a pre-exposed nontarget cue by the outcome, facilitated subsequent acquisition of the relationship between the pre-exposed target cue and the outcome. Experiment 2 compared whether learning about the target cue was differentially affected by experiencing two types of associative interference with the nontarget cue: Pairing the pre-exposed cue with the outcome and presenting the cue without outcome after being paired with it. The experience of associative interference with nontarget cues similarly facilitated subsequent learning about the target cue, regardless of the direction of the change in the nontarget cue-outcome relationship. It is suggested that the increase in prediction error produced by the experience of associative interference may lead to a general increase in attention that facilitates subsequent learning.

Concurrent evidence of extinction making acquisition context specific and ABA and ABC renewal effects in human predictive learning.

Two experiments evaluated whether the experience of extinction makes acquisition context specific (EMACS) while the extinction learning itself also becomes context dependent under ABA and ABC renewal designs in a human predictive learning situation. Two groups of participants received X-Outcome pairings in context A followed by P-Outcome pairings in context B. For participants in group E, cue X was then extinguished in context B while cue P was trained. Participants in group NE were trained with P, but they did not have the extinction experience. Testing target cues outside the context B (i.e. the context in which P was trained and X was extinguished) in group E led to an increase in responding to cue X (Renewal effect) and a decrease in responding to cue P (EMACS effect) regardless of whether the test was conducted in context A (Experiment 1) or in an alternative context C (Experiment 2). Combined results suggest that Renewal and EMACS effects may be based on the same underlying mechanism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Reversal training facilitates acquisition of new learning in a Morris water maze.

Two experiments determined the effect of interference training on subsequent spatial learning in a Morris water maze. Rats first learned that a platform was located in a quadrant marked by landmarks A and B. Different groups of rats either continued or reversed that training. In the reversal condition the platform was opposite to the initially trained quadrant. On test, a new cue, C, was added and the platform was located in the new AC quadrant. Rats that had received the reversal training learned the location of the new platform faster than rats trained with the same platform throughout. In Experiment 2, phase 1 training was conducted by placing the rats on the platforms to ensure that they were located. Experimental rats received a reversal of the platform position in phase 2. A control group received training with both platforms present, and thus had experience with each. When the platform was then located in the new AC quadrant the rats that received reversal training learned the new location faster than those without reversal training. Results are discussed in terms of the effect of interference on the arousal of general attention.

Prior extinction increases acquisition context specificity in human predictive learning.

One experiment evaluated the effect of extinction on the context dependence of non-extinguished information in a situation in which physical (images), rather than predominantly verbal, contexts were used in human predictive learning. Participants received training in which different foods (Cues) were associated with the presence or the absence of gastric illness (outcome) in customers of different restaurants (contexts). One cue was associated with the gastric illness while a different cue was either extinguished or not between groups. A change in the context at test led to a general decrease in both predictive judgments and the speed of responding to the non-extinguished cue. However, these decreases were greater when training was conducted during extinction of the different cue demonstrating the extinction makes acquisition context-specific (EMACS) effect. Results are contrasted with failures to find the effect in other reports and discussed in terms of extinction leading to an allocation of attentional resources to the context, facilitating the context dependence of information.

Discrimination reversal facilitates subsequent acquisition of temporal discriminations in rats' appetitive conditioning.

Three experiments with rats assessed the effects of introducing predictive ambiguity by reversing a Pavlovianly trained discrimination on subsequent context and temporal conditioning. The experience of discrimination reversal did not facilitate context conditioning when the food was presented on a variable time schedule (Experiment 1a). However, in Experiment 1b, discrimination reversal enhanced subsequent learning of a fixed temporal interval associated with unsignaled food presentation in comparison with consistent training. In Experiment 2, temporal discrimination after reversal and consistent training was compared with a naïve control. The experience of discrimination facilitated subsequent temporal conditioning with respect to the naïve control, and discrimination reversal enhanced temporal conditioning even further. In Experiment 3, reversal enhanced learning of the fixed temporal interval, regardless of whether it was relatively short or long (i.e., 30 s or 60 s). Results are discussed in terms of current associative theories of human and nonhuman conditioning and attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Experiencing extinction with a non-target cue facilitates reversal of a target conditioned inhibitor in human predictive learning.

Three experiments tested the effect of experiencing extinction on learning about a differential conditioned inhibitor that was trained as an excitor. A human predictive learning task was used in which participants had to evaluate the probability of different colored fertilizers (Cues) leading plants to flourish or not (Outcome). Experiment 1 found that presenting the target cue without outcome while other cues were followed by the outcome made the target cue a conditioned inhibitor, passing both, retardation (Experiment 1a) and summation (Experiment 1b) tests of conditioned inhibition. Subsequent extinction of a different cue facilitated reversing the relationship between the conditioned inhibitor and the outcome regardless of whether the situation could be solved by using simple rules (Experiment 2) or not (Experiment 3). Results are discussed in terms of attentional theories that suggest extinction produces a nonspecific increase in attention that facilitates learning.

Attentional instructions modulate differential context-switch effects after short and long training in human predictive learning.

Three experiments in human predictive learning assessed the modulating role of instructions on context-switch effects on performance after different levels of training. Cue X (a food name) was paired with an outcome (gastric malaise) in Context A (a specific restaurant), whereas another cue, Y, was presented in the absence of outcome in Context B. The series manipulated the testing context (same or different from the acquisition context), the length of training (short vs. long), and the instructions participants received before testing (attentional or neutral). Attentional instructions intended to either focusing participants' attention on the context (Experiments 1 and 2) or to take attention away from the context (Experiment 3). In agreement with the predictions of the attentional theory of context processing, instructions that focused participants' attention on the context made retrieval of information after long training context specific, something that did not occur in the absence of attentional instructions. Conversely, instructions that took participants' attention away from the context (by focusing their attention on the cue) attenuated context-switch effects that otherwise appear after short training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing a cue outside the training context increases attention to the contexts and impairs performance in human predictive learning.

One experiment in human predictive learning explored the impact of a context change on attention to contexts and predictive ratings controlled by the cue. In Context A: cue X was paired with an outcome four times, while cue Y was presented without an outcome four times in Context B:. In both contexts filler cues were presented without the outcome. During the test, target cues X and Y were presented either in the context where they were trained, or in the alternative context. With the context change expectation of the outcome X, expressed as predictive ratings, decreased in the presence of X and increased in the presence of Y. Looking at the contexts, expressed as a percentage of the overall gaze dwell time on a trial, was high across the four training trials, and increased with the context change. Results suggest that the presentation of unexpected information leads to increases in attention to contextual cues. Implications for contextual control of behavior are discussed.

Attention to irrelevant contexts decreases as training increases: Evidence from eye-fixations in a human predictive learning task.

Participants were trained in a human predictive learning task in which they had to predict whether the ingestion of a given food (cue) by the imaginary customer of an imaginary restaurant (context) was followed by gastric malaise (outcome). One food was always followed by gastric malaise in one of the contexts, while other foods were not followed by gastric malaise in the same, or in an alternative context. Predictive responses and eye-fixations were recorded throughout the 48 training trials with each cue involved in the task. In agreement with the predictions of the Attentional Theory of Context Processing, attention to the contexts measured through eye-fixations decreased while attention to the cues increased as training progressed. The results of this study give support to the idea that contexts are actively processed at the beginning of acquisition, and that this processing decreases as training increases.

Relationship between ethanol preference and sensation/novelty seeking.

High- and low-avoidance Roman inbred rat strains (RHA-I, RLA-I) were selected for extreme differences in two-way active avoidance. RHA-I rats also express less anxiety than RLA-I rats. This study compared male Roman rats in ethanol preference and sensation/novelty seeking. Rats were first exposed in counterbalanced order to the hole-board test (forced exposure to novelty) and the Y-maze and emergence tests (free choice between novel and familiar locations). Then, rats were tested in 24-h, two-bottle preference tests with water in one bottle and ethanol (2, 4, 6, 8, or 10% in successive days). Compared to RLA-I rats, RHA-I rats showed (1) higher frequency and time in head dipping, (2) higher activity, and (3) lower frequency of rearing and grooming in the hole-board test, and (4) remained in the novel arm longer in the Y-maze test. No strain differences were observed in the emergence test. RHA-I rats exhibited higher preference for and consumed more ethanol than RLA-I rats at all concentrations. However, both strains preferred ethanol over water for 2-4% concentrations, but water over ethanol for 6-10% concentrations. Factorial analysis with all the rats pooled identified a two-factor solution, one grouping preferred ethanol concentrations (2-4%) with head dipping and grooming in the hole board, and another factor grouping the nonpreferred ethanol concentrations (6-10%) with activity in the hole board and novel-arm time in the Y-maze test. These results show that preference for ethanol is associated with different aspects of behavior measured in sensation/novelty-seeking tests.

Experiencing extinction within a task makes nonextinguished information learned within a different task context-dependent.

In two experiments with rats, we analyzed the effect of experiencing extinction in one task on the context specificity of a new association learned within a different task. Rats were trained to run in a runway for water in Task 1, and received taste aversion conditioning in Task 2 (the tasks were reversed in Exp. 2). Half of the rats received conditioning and extinction of Task 1 in Context A, whereas the other half received no extinction. Then all animals received training in the alternate task in Context B, prior to testing in Context C. When they were tested in Context C, Task 2 performance was attenuated if Task 1 had been extinguished prior to Task 2. These results are similar to those we have reported in humans, and consistent with the idea that extinction prompts attention to contexts, regardless of whether or not the contexts were involved in extinction.

Anti-anxiety self-medication induced by incentive loss in rats.

Ethanol can be used to ameliorate negative emotion in anxiety-inducing situations. Two experiments tested whether rats would increase preference for ethanol immediately after anxiogenic sessions of appetitive extinction. It was predicted that preference for ethanol would be greater in inbred Roman low-avoidance rats (RLA-I) than in inbred Roman high-avoidance rats (RHA-I), given previous research demonstrating that the former strain exhibits greater sensitivity to incentive loss. Experiment 1 used a consummatory extinction task (22-to-0% sucrose downshift), whereas Experiment 2 used an instrumental extinction task (12-to-0 pellet downshift). In both experiments, postsession ethanol consumption was higher in RLA-I rats than in RHA-I rats. No strain differences in ethanol preference were found after acquisition sessions or in groups given postsession access to water. Because ethanol is an anti-anxiety drug, the present results suggest that rats are capable of changing their consummatory behavior to correct for an aversive emotional state induced by incentive loss.

Extinction makes conditioning time-dependent.

Two experiments explored whether forgetting of an association depended on previous extinction of a different association in rats. Experiment 1 found that when rats were conditioned and extinguished with flavor X, a subsequently acquired conditioned aversion to flavor Y was reduced by a 19-day retention interval, something that did not occur when X and the US were initially presented unpaired. Experiment 2 found that when rats received training and extinction in one of two tasks (conditioned aversion to sucrose in Experiment 2a, and running for water in a straight alley in Experiment 2b), subsequent learning of the alternative task was partially forgotten over the 19-day retention interval. These results are similar to those previously found when manipulating physical and conceptual contexts in rats and humans, respectively, and suggest that the passage of time may play a role similar to the one played by the change in physical or conceptual contexts on information retrieval.

Oral ethanol self-administration in inbred Roman high- and low-avoidance rats: gradual versus abrupt ethanol presentation.

Outbred Roman high-avoidance rats are known to consume more ethanol than inbred Roman low-avoidance rats. To determine whether ethanol consumption in inbred strains could be modulated by experiential factors, preference for a target 10% ethanol concentration was tested after either the gradual introduction of ethanol in increasing concentrations or the abrupt introduction of the target concentration. Whereas high-avoidance rats consumed more ethanol at lower concentrations, consumption and preference for ethanol over water were not differential across strains and administration procedure (gradual vs. abrupt). At the 4% concentration, ethanol was preferred over water by Roman high-avoidance rats, but water was preferred over ethanol by Roman low-avoidance rats. Ethanol consumption and preference for a 10% concentration appear to be immune to modification by either the gradual or abrupt ethanol presentation.

Ambiguity and context processing in human predictive learning.

Two experiments explored the role of ambiguity on context processing by using relative stimulus validity designs in human predictive learning. Two groups of participants were trained with 2 stimulus compounds (XY and XZ). In Group TD (true discrimination), compound XY was always followed by the outcome, whereas compound XZ was never followed by it. In Group PD (pseudodiscrimination) the presentation of each compound was followed by the outcome in half of the trials. Experiment 1 found that pseudodiscrimination facilitated context dependency of reliable predictors regardless of whether they were trained in the same context in which pseudodiscrimination took place or in an alternative context in which true discrimination was conducted. Experiment 2 found context dependency of reliable predictors trained and tested in PD contexts, suggesting that the ambiguity in the meaning of the cues produced by pseudodiscrimination training is at least partially responsible for the context switch effects found in ambiguous situations in human predictive learning.

Latent timing in human conditioned avoidance.

Four experiments explored signal timing in human conditioned avoidance. Participants received discrimination training with different duration signals that announced the outcome (S+) or not (S-). Temporal discrimination and superposition of performance to S+ signals of different length (3, 6, or 9 s) was found both in within-subjects (Experiment 1a) and between-subjects (Experiment 1b) designs. S- signals also produced a temporal discrimination and superposition effect during a single test trial conducted after the meaning of the signals was reversed through instructions. Experiments 2a and 2b replicated these results in a situation in which (a) the durations of the S+ and S- signals were different (4.5 or 9 s) to prevent any temporal generalization between them (Experiment 2a), and (b) only S- signals were presented during training, precluding developing of inhibition to S- (Experiment 2b). These results show that participants time both S+ and S- signals in human conditioned avoidance, and they further suggest that the timing of a cue is independent of reinforcement.

Acquisition of a conditioned taste aversion becomes context dependent when it is learned after extinction.

A conditioned taste aversion experiment tested context-switch effects on retrieval of conditioned stimulus (CS)-unconditioned stimulus (US) acquisition performance in rats. A context switch impaired performance when the target flavour was trained in a context where a different flavour underwent extinction. Conditioned taste aversion in the absence of previous extinction of the alternate flavour was not context dependent. It is suggested that the ambiguity in the meaning of the extinguished cue leads animals to pay attention to the context, so that the information learned in that context becomes context dependent.

Context switch effects on acquisition and extinction in human predictive learning.

Four experiments tested context switch effects on acquisition and extinction in human predictive learning. A context switch impaired probability judgments about a cue-outcome relationship when the cue was trained in a context in which a different cue underwent extinction. The context switch also impaired judgments about a cue trained in a context different from the extinction context, whenever this training was concurrent with extinction of another cue. After extinction, new cue-outcome relationships learned, even in a different task, became context specific. Moreover, renewal was consistently observed. It is suggested that context switch effects result from a process by which ambiguity leads participants to attend to the contexts.