AUDITORY DIFFERENTIAL CONDITIONING OF RABBIT NICTITATING MEMBRANE RESPONSE .1. EFFECTS OF MIXED- AND SEPARATE-PHASE TRAINING

This study compared several procedures for establishing differential conditioning with tonal stimuli. Eight albino rabbits received 3 days of differential conditioning consisting daily of 60 reinforced (CS+) trials randomly interspersed with unreinforced (CS-) trials (mixed-phase or D). After each of 32 rabbits received 60 trials of continuous reinforcement (CRF) on Day 1, Ss were divided into four groups (separate phase): (a) Group CRF-D was given 60 differential conditioning trials for the remainder of that session; (b) Group CRF-I-D received 10 CS— trials and completed the session on Day 1 with 50 differential conditioning trials; (c) Group 2 CRF-2I-D (10–20–10) received 10 CS—, 20 CS+, 10 CS—, and 20 differential trials; and (d) Group 2 CRF-2I-D (5–10–5) was given 5 CS—, 10 CS+, 5 CS—, and 40 differential conditioning trials. All separate-phase Ss received 120 trials/day of conventional differential conditioning on Days 2 and 3. The separate-phase Ss demonstrated a superior rate of differentiation on Day 2 in comparison with the mixed-phase Ss, but by Day 3 the latter Ss had reached a similar rate of differentiation. © 1969, Psychonomic Journals, Inc.. All rights reserved.