Failure to block control by a relevant stimulus

Vincent M. LoLordo, W. J. Jacobs, Donald D. Foree

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

64 Scopus citations

Abstract

Pigeons were trained to depress a treadle in the presence of a discriminative stimulus, either a tone or illumination of red houselights, in order to obtain access to grain or avoid electric shock. In avoidance training, the auditory discriminative stimulus yielded faster acquisition than did the visual one. In appetitive training, the visual discriminative stimulus yielded faster acquisition than the auditory one. Experiments 2 and 3 used these stimuli in Kamin's (1969) blocking design. In Experiment 2, when the pigeons were trained to depress a treadle in the presence of tone to obtain grain and then red light was added as the redundant stimulus, the light acquired stimulus control over treadlepressing; blocking was not observed. In Experiment 3, when the pigeons were trained to depress a treadle in the presence of red light to avoid electric shock and then tone was added as the redundant stimulus, the tone acquired stimulus control over treadle-pressing. Again, blocking was not observed. The implications of these results for several models of stimulus control are discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)183-192
Number of pages10
JournalAnimal Learning & Behavior
Volume10
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1982
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
  • Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
  • Animal Science and Zoology
  • General Psychology
  • Behavioral Neuroscience

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