INTERSTIMULUS INTERVAL FUNCTION OF THE NICTITATING MEMBRANE RESPONSE OF THE RABBIT UNDER DELAY VERSUS TRACE CONDITIONING

EACH OF 144 SS RECEIVED 2 ADAPTATION, 10 ACQUISITION, AND 2 EXTINCTION SESSIONS IN A 3 * 4 FACTORIAL DESIGN WITH FIXED CS DELAY, SIMULTANEOUS OFFSET OF CS AND UCS DELAY, AND FIXED CS TRACE PROCEDURES AS 1 DIMENSION AND INTERSTIMULUS INTERVALS (ISI) OF .25, .5, 1, AND 2 SEC. COMPRISING THE OTHER. ISI FUNCTIONS DIFFERED IN SHAPE AND SLOPE FOR DIFFERENT DELAY AND TRACE PROCEDURES. RATE AND LEVEL OF CONDITIONING WERE INVERSE FUNCTIONS OF ISI, EXCEPT UNDER FIXED CS DELAY. MEDIAN LATENCY DECREASED AS TRAINING PROGRESSED; MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF RESPONSE LATENCY INCREASED WITH ISI. LATENCY DATA APPEARED TO BE CONSISTENT WITH TIME DISCRIMINATION AND STIMULUS TRACE HYPOTHESES OF LEARNING. (15 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).