Trial and intertrial durations in Pavlovian conditioning : issues of learning and performance / Kennon Matthew Lattal.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Microformat

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Lattal, Kennon Matthew.

Contributor:

Rescorla, Robert A., advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Psychology.

Psychology--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Psychology.

Psychology--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

viii, 70 pages : illustrations ; 29 cm

Production:

1998.

Summary:

The rate of acquisition of a Pavlovian conditioned response is determined by the ratio of the intertrial (I) duration to the trial (T) duration. As the ratio of I duration to T duration increases, the rate of acquisition increases, regardless of the absolute values of these durations. The four experiments reported here address the generality of this phenomenon by examining the I:T ratio effect in a different preparation from the one commonly used. In addition, they attempt to resolve the fundamental issue of whether conditioning with different I:T ratios leads to differences in associative learning or to differences in performance (i.e., the behavioral expression of learning). In each experiment, different groups were conditioned with different I:T ratios and then were given a common test across a variety of I and T durations. Each experiment found better learning in the groups trained with the larger I:T ratio. The implications of these results for current theories of learning and performance are discussed.

Notes:

Supervisor: Robert A. Rescorla.

Thesis (Ph.D. in Psychology) -- University of Pennsylvania, 1998.

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 98-29932.

OCLC:

187470249