EFFECTS OF RETENTION INTERVAL ON LATENT INHIBITION AND PERCEPTUAL-LEARNING

Repeated, non-reinforced preexposure to a context slowed development o f conditioned freezing to that context when it was subsequently paired with footshock (latent inhibition) and enhanced discriminability of t hat context from a similar context (perceptual learning) whether asses sed by a generalization test or by explicit discrimination training. L atent inhibition was eliminated by a delay between conditioning sessio ns and test (Experiments la and Ib) and reduced by a delay between pre exposure and conditioning (Experiment 2). However, perceptual learning was unaffected by either of these intervals (Experimnets Ib and 2). T hese results are discussed in terms their impact on theories that have latent inhibition as a possible mechanism of perceptual learning, and on theories of latent inhibition that consider the retardation of con ditioned responding to be the result of an acquisition failure.