Some tricks for ameliorating the trace-conditioning deficit

Abstract

Trace procedures, with a gap between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US), often produce weaker conditioning than procedures with contiguous CS and US. Such deficits were found in this experiment using rat subjects and conditioned suppression techniques to assess the strength of fear conditioning. But the deficit was greatly reduced either by filling the CS-US gap with a second “filler” stimulus or by adding a brief “safety signal” at the start of the intertriai interval. © 1978, Phychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.