Occasion setting, inhibition, and the contextual control of extinction in Pavlovian and instrumental (operant) learning

• Published in: Behavioural processes Vol. 137; pp. 64 - 72
• Main Authors: Trask, Sydney, Thrailkill, Eric A., Bouton, Mark E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.04.2017; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: animal behavior; Animals; Appetitive Behavior; Association Learning; Behavior; Behavioral extinction; Behavioral psychology; classical conditioning; Conditioned stimulus; Conditioning, Classical; Conditioning, Operant; Contextual control; Cues; Extinction, Psychological; Inhibition (Psychology); Inhibitory learning; Learning; Occasion setting; Operant conditioning; Rats; Transfer (Psychology); Occasion setting; Contextual control; Inhibitory learning; Behavioral extinction
• ISSN: 0376-6357; 1872-8308
• DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.10.003

•Context plays a fundamental role in both Pavlovian and instrumental (operant) extinction.•Contextual occasion setting is important in the Pavlovian case.•Direct control of the response (e.g., response inhibition) is important in the instrumental case. An occasion setter is a stimulus that modulates the ability of another stimulus to control behavior. A rich history of experimental investigation has identified several important properties that define occasion setters and the conditions that give rise to occasion setting. In this paper, we first consider the basic hallmarks of occasion setting in Pavlovian conditioning. We then review research that has examined the mechanisms underlying the crucial role of context in Pavlovian and instrumental extinction. In Pavlovian extinction, evidence suggests that the extinction context can function as a negative occasion setter whose role is to disambiguate the current meaning of the conditioned stimulus; the conditioning context can also function as a positive occasion setter. In operant extinction, in contrast, the extinction context may directly inhibit the response, and the conditioning context can directly excite it. We outline and discuss the key results supporting these distinctions.