OVERTRAINING AND USE OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE STIMULI IN REVERSAL AND TRANSFER

96 LONG-EVANS FEMALE HOODED RATS WERE GIVEN EITHER OVERTRAINING OR MASTERY TRAINING ON A Y MAZE BLACK-WHITE DISCRIMINATION FOLLOWED BY 1 OF 6 TASKS: (1) REVERSAL OF S+ AND S-, (2) REVERSAL OF S+ TO S- WITH NEW S+, (3) REVERSAL OF S- TO S+ WITH NEW S-, (4) NEW S+ AND S-, (5) NEW S+, OLD S-, OR (6) OLD S+, NEW S-. OVERTRAINED SS LEARNED ALL CONDITIONS FASTER THAN MASTERY SS. GENERALLY, NUMBER OF ERRORS DECREASED FROM CONDITIONS 1-6 BUT MASTERY SS MADE MORE ERRORS IN 3 THAN IN 2 AND IN 6 THAN IN 5. SPEED OF LEARNING THE 2ND TASK WAS RELATED TO POSITION RESPONDING. RESULTS ARE DISCUSSED IN RELATION TO CHANGES IN ORIENTATION TO S+ AND S- DURING OVERTRAINING. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.