Temporal coding in conditioned inhibition: Retardation tests

Abstract

Two lick suppression experiments with rats were conducted in order to determine the nature of the temporal information that is encoded as a result of Pavlovian conditioned inhibition training (conditioned stimulus [CS] A→unconditioned stimulus [US]/AX→noUS). After inhibition training, the conditioned inhibitor (X) was paired with the US in order to measure inhibition, as assessed through retarded behavioral control by CS X. Three temporal relationships were manipulated: the A-US interval, the X-A interval of inhibition training, and the X-US interval of the retardation test pairings. Retardation was greatest when the X-US temporal relationship matched the time at which the US was expected (but not delivered) on the X-A inhibition training trials. Thus, the present experiments provide evidence with retardation tests that, during conditioned inhibition training, subjects encode the temporal location of the omitted US relative to the inhibitory CS. These findings complement those of previous studies using summation tests of conditioned inhibition (Barnet & Miller, 1996; Denniston, Blaisdell, & Miller, 1998; Denniston, Cole, & Miller, 1998).