SPONTANEOUS-RECOVERY IN CROSS-MOTIVATIONAL TRANSFER (COUNTERCONDITIONING)

In two experiments with rat subjects, we examined the effects of a retention interval on performance in two conditioning paradigms in which a conditioned stimulus (CS) was associated with different unconditioned stimuli (USs) in successive phases of the experiment. Experiment 1 was designed to examine aversive-appetitive transfer, in which the CS is associated with shock and then food; Experiment 2 was designed to examine appetitive-aversive transfer, in which the CS is associated with food and then shock. Aversive and appetitive conditioned responses (freezing and head-jerk responding, respectively) were scored from videotape. In both experiments, a 28-day retention interval following the end of Phase 2 caused a recovery of the Phase 1 response and a resuppression of the Phase 2 response. The results suggest that the original association is not destroyed when the CS is associated with a new US in Phase 2. They also suggest that both retroactive and proactive interference effects may result from interference with performance output rather than a disruption or loss of what is learned during or stored from the target phase.