Temporal Course of CR Formation

In order to study the temporal course of CR formation, 10 goats were subjected to an avoidance conditioning procedure in which they responded to a light of 1200-msec. duration by inhibiting their leg's being pulled forward to avoid an electric shock. An external force to pull forward the S3’ leg followed the light onset by 200 msec. in one session and 1200 msec. in another. During each session, test trials, on which the external force followed the light onset by 0, 100, 200, and 1200 msec., were administered. It was found that a dear generalization gradient specific to each stimulus-force training interval was obtained. This experiment also suggests another way of studying the fundamental nature of conditioning, since a temporal generalization gradient exhibits a temporal course of CR formation.