Context switch effects and Context Experience in Rats’ Conditioned Taste Aversion

Context specificity of rats’ conditioned taste aversion as a function of context experience was assessed in two experiments. Rats received a single pairing between a flavor X and a LiCl injection in a distinctive context (context A) being subsequently tested either in the same context or in a different but equally familiar context (context B). Experiment 1 found that the context change attenuated aversion to X when contexts were new at the time of conditioning. No effect of context change was found when rats had experience with the contexts before conditioning. Experiment 2 found that consumption was lower in the context of conditioning than in the alternative context, regardless of whether the stimulus was conditioned or not, suggesting that contexts exert their control through direct context-outcome associations in this situation

A new experimental approach to the study of beauty

Theories of beauty perception have tilting between the importance of the golden section, and the importance of cultural and learning factors on perception of beauty. The contradiction between those approaches may be solved by taking in account the real golden proportion rather than the ideal golden proportion. A new framework to conduct new and more comprehensive experimental approaches to the study of beauty is proposed

Experiencing Extinction Facilitates Subsequent Acquisition of Positive, but not Negative Patterning in Human Predictive Learning [Annotation]

University of Jaé

Effects of context change upon retrieval of first and second-learned information in human predictive learning

Se presentan dos experimentos que evalúan el efecto del cambio
 de contexto sobre la recuperación de la información acerca de una relación
 clave-consecuencia en aprendizaje predictivo humano. Los resultados
 encontrados replican el bien conocido efecto de renovación de la relación
 clave-consecuencia por el cambio de contexto después del tratamiento de
 interferencia retroactiva, así como el efecto nulo del cambio de contexto
 sobre la adquisición antes de que la interferencia tenga lugar (Experimento
 2). No obstante, la asociación simple clave-consecuencia se vio
 negativamente afectada por el cambio de contexto cuando esta asociación
 fue establecida en un contexto donde otra clave había sufrido un tratamiento
 de interferencia (Experimentos 1 y 2). Cuando los participantes reciben el
 tratamiento de interferencia en un contexto, la relación simple claveconsecuencia
 aprendida en un contexto distinto también se convierte en
 específica del contexto. Se discuten las implicaciones de estos resultados
 para la teoría de la recuperación de la información

Context switch effects and Context Experience in Rats' Conditioned Taste Aversion

Dos experimentos evaluaron la especificidad contextual de la aversión condicionada al sabor en ratas en función de la experiencia con el contexto. Las ratas recibieron un único emparejamiento entre un sabor X y una inyección de LiCl en un contexto distintivo (contexto A) recibiendo posteriormente una prueba bien en el mismo contexto o en un contexto diferente pero igualmente familiar (contexto B). El experimento 1 encontró que el cambio de contexto atenuó la aversión a X cuando los contextos eran nuevos en el momento del condicionamiento. No se encontró un efecto de cambio de contexto cuando las ratas tuvieron experiencia con los contextos antes del condicionamiento. El experimento 2 encontró que el consumo fue más bajo en el contexto de condicionamiento que en el contexto alternativo, independientemente de que el estímulo fuera condicionado o no lo fuera, sugiriendo que en esta situación los contextos ejercen su control a través de asociaciones directas contexto-consecuencia

AAB and ABA Renewal as a Function of the Number of Extinction Trials in Conditioned Taste Aversion

Se realizaron tres experimentos en los que se exploró el efecto de renovación en aversión condicionada al sabor en
 función del número de ensayos de extinción. En el Experimento 1, tres
 grupos de ratas recibieron un ensayo de condicionamiento, donde una
 solución de sacarina se emparejó con LiCl, seguido por tres ensayos de
 extinción y dos ensayos de prueba. Los grupos difirieron en el contexto
 donde recibieron cada una de las fases (AAA, ABA y AAB). El cambio de
 contexto después de la extinción renovó la aversión condicionada al sabor,
 independientemente de si aquél implicó el regreso al contexto de
 condicionamiento (ABA) o el paso a un contexto diferente (AAB). En el Experimento 2, aumentar el número de ensayos de extinción a 5 eliminó la
 renovación en el grupo AAB. El Experimento 3 replicó estos resultados
 dentro de un diseño factorial. Se discuten las implicaciones del efecto
 diferencial de la cantidad de extinción en la renovación AAB y ABA para la
 teoría de la recuperación de la información

Experiencing Extinction Facilitates Subsequent Acquisition of Positive, but not Negative Patterning in Human Predictive Learning

Two experiments evaluated whether the experience of extinction facilitates subsequent acquisition of patterning discriminations in human predictive learning. Both experiments compared acquisition of negative and positive patterning discrimination between a group of participants that had experienced extinction with a nontarget cue, and a group of participants that had not. Experiment 1 found that acquisition of positive (Experiment 1a) and negative (Experiment 1b) patterning discriminations with the target cues, when they were independently trained, took place at the same rate regardless of the extinction experience with the nontarget cue. Experiment 2 found that, when positive and negative patterning discriminations were concurrently trained, experiencing extinction facilitated the acquisition of positive, but not negative patterning. Results suggest the existence of some boundaries for the idea that experiencing uncertainty facilitates subsequent learning because of the activation of the exploratory mechanism of attention as proposed by recent attentional associative learning theories.N

Role of Formal Aesthetic Education in the Relationship between Golden Proportion and Perception of the Beauty of Artistic Stimuli

The golden ratio is defined as an uncanny relationship between numbers and beauty that roots in a two millennian tradition. Two experiments evaluated the relationship between formal aesthetic education and the evaluation of beautifulness of artistic golden ratio stimuli by comparing performance of two groups of university students: Fine Arts students, and students without formal training in art. In Experiment 1, both groups of participants had to choose between pairs of black and white adaptations of Mondrian paintings modified to fit either the golden or the 1/6 proportion. Both groups preferentially chose golden ratio stimuli as more beautiful than 1/6 stimuli, with such preference being significantly greater in Fine Arts students. When the comparison was conducted between golden ratio and symmetrical stimuli (1/2 proportion stimuli) in Experiment 2, Fine Arts students clearly chose the golden ratio stimuli as the most beautiful one, while no differences were found in university students without formal art education. Specific art education seems to favor perception of beauty based in golden ratio, as suggested by traditional literature on perception of beauty, though it is also possible that Fine Arts education is chosen by students that are born with a greater aesthetic sensitivity.N