The research proposed here is concerned with the general issue of the content of knowledge acquired in Pavlovian conditioning. Though the approach is to study these issues at the behavioral level, it is anticipated that the data ultimately will stimulate future theoretical work at the behavioral level as well as research directed towards identifying neural substrates of Pavlovian conditioning. One major goal of this research is to assess the content of Pavlovian learning by exploring in greater detail the idea that sensory-specific qualities of the unconditioned stimulus (US) in Pavlovian excitatory conditioning become part of the underlying associative circuitry. More information on this topic will be provided by studies examining (a) the acquisition of sensory-specific learning, (b) the sensitivity of such learning to interstimulus and intertrial interval manipulations as well as (c) manipulations of partial and continuous reinforcement, (d) potential differences between trace and delay conditioning procedures, and (e) the possibility of time-constrained sensory-specific learning. A second major goal in this proposal is to assess more fully the claim by some theories (e.g., Konorski, 1967; Wagner and Brandon, 1989) that Pavlovian inhibitory conditioning also can be sensory-specific. I will explore this possibility by testing for sensory-specific conditioned inhibition arising from several different popularly used inhibitory conditioning procedures. A third major goal in this proposal is to assess the relationship between learning about sensory-specific and non-specific motivational qualities of reinforcement. This will be assessed by monitoring both forms of learning concurrently in a variety of settings. The studies will provide insight into the general issue of whether these two forms of learning are influenced in opposing or similar ways by the several different conditioning variables noted above. In total, it is anticipated that these studies will be helpful in promoting the construction of learning theories that are applicable to situations involving multiple USs, a currently under-conceptualized but experimentally rich topic. More globally, it is hoped that these studies will provide a much firmer basis upon which to think about the cognitive and motivational foundations of learning.
