Westbrook R F, Duffield T Q, Good A J, Halligan S, Seth A K, Swinbourne A L
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Q J Exp Psychol B. 1995 Nov;48(4):357-75.
Five experiments examined within-event learning in rats by inducing an appetite for one of the elements (salt) of a compound stimulus and assessing preference for the other element (almond). Almond preference was conditional upon (1) the almond flavour having been presented in compound with the salt, and (2) the assessment being conducted when the rats were out of sodium balance (Experiment 1). Presentations of the compound in one environment (A) and of the salt and almond elements in a second environment (B) resulted in greater almond preference when rats were tested in A than in B (Experiment 2). Almond preference was reduced when separate presentations of the compound and almond (Experiment 3) or of the compound and salt (Experiment 4) occurred in the same environments but not when these presentations occurred in different environments. Rats exposed to the compound in A and then extinguished to the elements in either A or B showed a reduced almond preference when tested in the extinction environment, but not when tested in the other environment (Experiment 5). Thus, extinction of within-event learning is context-specific and subject to renewal. The results were interpreted in terms of an associative model whereby separate presentations of the elements result in a symmetrical inhibitory link which is contextually gated (Bouton, 1993).
五项实验通过引发大鼠对复合刺激中的一种成分（盐）的食欲，并评估其对另一种成分（杏仁）的偏好，来研究事件内学习。杏仁偏好取决于以下两点：（1）杏仁味道曾与盐一同呈现，以及（2）评估在大鼠钠平衡失调时进行（实验1）。当复合刺激在一个环境（A）中呈现，而盐和杏仁成分在第二个环境（B）中呈现时，在环境A中进行测试时，大鼠对杏仁的偏好大于在环境B中进行测试时（实验2）。当复合刺激和杏仁（实验3）或复合刺激和盐（实验4）在相同环境中分别呈现时，杏仁偏好降低，但当这些呈现发生在不同环境中时则不会。在环境A中接触复合刺激，然后在环境A或B中对成分进行消退训练的大鼠，在消退环境中进行测试时，杏仁偏好降低，但在另一个环境中进行测试时则不会（实验5）。因此，事件内学习的消退具有情境特异性且会出现恢复。研究结果依据一种联想模型进行解释，即成分的分别呈现会导致一种对称的抑制性联系，这种联系会受到情境的调节（布顿，1993）。
