Posttraining self-stimulation and memory: A study of some parameters

Abstract

The effects of varying the amounts of tone preexposure (latent inhibition) and posttraining self-stimulation on retention of a tone-shock association, measured by determining the amount of tone-induced suppression of drinking, were studied. Increasing amounts of pretraining tone exposure decreased retention over all levels of self-stimulation, and increasing amounts of post-training self-stimulation increased retention over all levels of preexposure. The interaction between these two factors suggests that they both acted on the strength of the tone-shock association. The preexposure acted proactively to weaken the association, and the self-stimulation acted retroactively to strengthen it. The effects of delaying the posttraining stimulation for various times after the tone-shock pairings was also investigated. Retention was improved by self-stimulation delayed for 15 or 30 min, but was not affected by self-stimulation delayed for 1 h. These experiments are interpreted as indicating that posttraining self-stimulation acts to improve retention by interacting with normally occurring processes of acquisition and retention. © 1982, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.