Revaluation of geometric cues reduces landmark discrimination via within-compound associations

Austen, J.M.; McGregor, A.

doi:10.3758/s13420-014-0150-1

Revaluation of geometric cues reduces landmark discrimination via within-compound associations

Austen, J.M.; McGregor, A.

Authors

Joseph Austen j.m.austen@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

Professor Anthony Mcgregor anthony.mcgregor@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

Rats were trained in a triangular water maze in which a compound of geometric and landmark cues indicated the position of a submerged platform. Rats that then underwent revaluation of the geometric cues in the absence of the landmarks subsequently failed to discriminate between the landmarks. In contrast, those animals that received geometry training consistent with their previous experience of the geometry–landmark compound continued to discriminate the landmark cues. The experiment showed that within-compound associations had formed between the geometry and landmarks, and that representations of absent geometric cues could be evoked via presentation of the landmark cues alone. We argue that these evoked representations of the absent geometry cues can counteract any overshadowing of the landmark by geometry cues, and may sometimes result in potentiation. The results of this study do not support theories of cue-competition failure based on independent cue processing, but remain readily explicable by appeal to an account based on within-compound associations.

Citation

Austen, J., & McGregor, A. (2014). Revaluation of geometric cues reduces landmark discrimination via within-compound associations. Learning & Behavior, 42(4), 330-336. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-014-0150-1

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 21, 2014
Online Publication Date	Aug 15, 2014
Publication Date	Dec 1, 2014
Deposit Date	Feb 11, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Feb 18, 2015
Journal	Learning and Behavior
Print ISSN	1543-4494
Electronic ISSN	1543-4508
Publisher	Springer
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	42
Issue	4
Pages	330-336
DOI	https://doi.org/10.3758/s13420-014-0150-1
Keywords	Cue competition, Spatial learning, Within-compound association, Water maze, Geometry.