CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Traditional simple trial-by-trial mathematical models of conditioning do not accomplish the basic characteristics of spontaneous recovery, this is, the observation that after extinction of a previously established conditioned response, these responses are partially recovered after a time without training. Several more recent theoretical developments have been centred on the potential role of absent cues in the modulation of associative learning processes. Here I show that the hypothesis of an opponent process in the CS processing mechanism whichs effects on conditioning processes are particularly relevant during the omission of previously presented cues, can be successfully applied for the prediction of basic spontaneous recovery effects, latent inhibition and retrospective revaluation phenomena. Results of simulations are presented and discussed in the framework of current theoretical models of extinction and conditioned behavior.