Arcediano Francisco, Escobar Martha, Miller Ralph R
Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA.
Psychon Bull Rev. 2004 Dec;11(6):1105-10. doi: 10.3758/bf03196744.
Traditionally, blocking (X-outcome, followed by XY-outcome, resulting in attenuated conditioned responding to Y, relative to XY-outcome alone) has been explained in terms of the X-outcome association's preventing the acquisition of the Y-outcome association. This view is challenged by models that view stimulus competition as a deficit in the expression of the acquired Y-outcome association. Here, we provide evidence that blocking is a performance deficit in which the Y-outcome association, the to-be-blocked stimulus, can affect behavioral control by the blocking stimulus (i.e., attenuate responding to X). The results are discussed in terms of acquisition and performance models of stimulus competition.
