REINSTATEMENT AFTER COUNTERCONDITIONING

Reinstatement after counterconditioning was examined in three experime nts with rats. The rats received CS-shock pairings in Phase I and then CS-food pairings in Phase 2. When unsignaled shock was presented afte r appetitive conditioning, fear performance to the CS replaced food pe rformance. This reinstatement effect depended on initial pairings of t he CS and shock in Phase 1. It also depended on shock exposure occurri ng in the test context. The results parallel previous data obtained af ter extinction. Counterconditioning and extinction yield several paral lel effects (spontaneous recovery, renewal and now reinstatement) whic h suggest that Phase 2 does not destroy the learning acquired in Phase 1.