Acquired relational equivalence between contexts and features

In 2 experiments, rats received a biconditional discrimination wherein sepa rate presentations of A and B signaled 1 pair of associations (X --> food a nd Y --> no food) and presentations of C and D signaled a different pair of associations (X --> no food and Y --> food). In Experiment 1, A, B, C,and D were diffuse contextual stimuli in which the associations were embedded. In Experiment 2, A and C were contextual stimuli whereas E and D were featu res that immediately preceded the associations. To assess the associative s tructures acquired during training, all rats then received a revaluation pr ocedure in which A was paired with shock and C was not. In both experiments , greater generalized suppression of behavior was observed in the presence of B than in the presence of D. These results indicate that contextual stim uli share with features the capacity to evoke the associations that they ha ve signaled.