The proposed research seeks to shed light on the role that select temporal variables have in the acquisition of fear-motivated behavior. Specifically, the research examines the hypothesis of time-scale invariance, the proposition that the level of conditioned responding created by pairing a conditioned stimulus (CS) with an unconditioned stimulus (US) should be directly proportional to the ratio of the duration between USs (C) to the duration of the CS between its being reinforced (T). The proposition of time-scale invariance has played a large role in some contemporary theories of Pavlovian conditioning, despite data supporting the idea largely being derived from a single preparation. The studies will test generality of control by C/T in a preparation not previously extensively tested, asymptotic conditioned lick suppression, over a large range of temporal parameters. Also, the proposed research will assess the extent to which behavioral competition between the psychological representations of the ratio components depends upon encoding at the time of initial training versus retrieval at the time of testing. Additionally, the work will test theoretical ideas derived by my sponsor and his colleagues that suggest conditions that should reverse behavioral control by the C/T ratio. A greater understanding of the way animals react to temporal variables in conditioning situations will help us to better understand how humans respond to natural environmental contingencies. Such knowledge will likely contribute to the development of treatments of maladaptive, fear-motivated behavior.
| Stout, Steven; Escobar, Martha; Miller, Ralph R (2004) Trial number and compound stimuli temporal relationship as joint determinants of second-order conditioning and conditioned inhibition. Learn Behav 32:230-9 |
| Stout, Steven C; Miller, Ralph (2004) Effect of amount of context extinction on revaluation of a target CS. Behav Processes 66:7-16 |
