Long-delay learning with exteroceptive cue and exteroceptive reinforcement in rats

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Abstract
Insufficient attention has been given to features of experimental design which differentiate long‐delay learning paradigms from traditional learning paradigms. This experiment investigated an interrelated set of design features — the spatial and biological relationships of cue, behaviour and reinforcement — which characterize the taste‐aversion learning paradigm. These features were replicated in a fully exteroceptive paradigm in which the cues were perceptual characteristics of an object, the behaviour was touching of the object, and the reinforcer was delayed electric shock. Long‐delay learning, measured in terms of amount of touching of the object, was obtained in two separate experiments.