Wheeler Daniel S, Miller Ralph R
State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA.
Q J Exp Psychol (Hove). 2007 Feb;60(2):191-210. doi: 10.1080/17470210600790240.
When subjects are sequentially trained with a cue (A) paired separately with two outcomes (B and C) in different phases (i.e., A-B pairings followed by A-C pairings) testing in the training context after short retention intervals often reveals recency effects (i.e., stronger influence by A-C). In contrast, testing after long retention intervals or testing in a context different from that of training sometimes reveals primacy effects (A-B). Three experiments were conducted using rats in a Pavlovian conditioned bar-press suppression preparation to ascertain whether a nonreinforced test trial in the training context soon after training can attenuate this shift to primacy. Experiment 1 demonstrated that exposure to A shortly after both phases of training, but prior to a long retention interval, can attenuate shifts from recency to primacy otherwise observed with a long retention interval. Experiment 2 showed that exposure to A in the training context can also eliminate the shift from recency to primacy otherwise produced by shifting the physical context between training and test. Experiment 3 discredited a potential account of the results of Experiments 1 and 2. The effects observed in Experiment 1 and 2 are interpreted as early testing in the training context serving to initiate rehearsal of the A-C association due to the temporal proximity of A-C training.
当在不同阶段将线索（A）分别与两个结果（B和C）配对对受试者进行顺序训练时（即先进行A-B配对，随后进行A-C配对），在短延迟间隔后于训练环境中进行测试，往往会揭示近因效应（即A-C的影响更强）。相比之下，在长延迟间隔后进行测试或在与训练环境不同的环境中进行测试，有时会揭示首因效应（A-B）。进行了三项实验，使用大鼠在巴甫洛夫条件性压杆抑制实验准备中，以确定在训练后不久于训练环境中进行一次无强化测试能否减弱这种向首因效应的转变。实验1表明，在两个训练阶段后不久但在长延迟间隔之前接触A，能够减弱在长延迟间隔时通常会观察到的从近因效应向首因效应的转变。实验2表明，在训练环境中接触A还能消除因在训练和测试之间改变物理环境而通常产生的从近因效应向首因效应的转变。实验3对实验1和2结果的一种可能解释提出了质疑。实验1和2中观察到的效应被解释为在训练环境中进行早期测试，由于A-C训练在时间上的接近性，有助于启动对A-C关联的复述。
