Skip to main content
Article
Associative properties of a conditioned inhibitor as a function of age in cats.
Animal Learning & Behavior (1993)
  • Nancy K. Dess, Occidental College
  • Stephan S. Soltysik
Abstract
The efficacy of conditioned inhibition in a novel conditioned stimulus/conditioned inhibitor (CS/CI) compound was tested in 6-, 10-, and 14-week-old kittens. The conditioned response was suppression of respiration elicited by a 5.1-sec CS paired with a brief, mild footshock. During coterminated 3 sec later without the shock. As previously reported, the CI trained in this paradigm is more potent in older kittens but passes a summation test in all age groups (Dess & Soltysik, 1989). In the transfer test, the order of the CS and CI was reversed, so that the CI preceded the CS with no stimulus overlap. Transfer of inhibition to this new compound was virtually absent in the 6-week-old kittens and nearly perfect in the 14-week-old kittens. The CI alone (before CS onset) elicited a strong fear response in the youngest kittens, moderate fear in the 10-week-old group, and very little fear in the oldesr group. The transferability of inhibitory training to a different temporal configuration of the CS and CI is absent at 6 weeks of age and fully developed 8 weeks later.
Disciplines
Publication Date
1993
Citation Information
Nancy K. Dess and Stephan S. Soltysik. "Associative properties of a conditioned inhibitor as a function of age in cats." Animal Learning & Behavior Vol. 21 Iss. 2 (1993)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nancy_dess/2/