Topic: sensory preconditioning

Animals and humans adapt to environmental changes by encoding prior experiences. While classical conditioning paradigms like fear conditioning have been the main focus in the learning and memory field, other forms of associative learning are gaining attention. One example is higher-order conditioning, mediated learning, which allows non-reinforced neutral stimuli to induce attraction or aversion through associations with directly reinforced cues. In rodents, sensory preconditioning, and second-order conditioning tasks have been used to assess higher-order conditioning. In this study, we develo

Incidental learning (IL) can be studied using sensory preconditioning, a higher-order memory process. Incidental associations between low-salience stimuli (e.g. odors, tastes, lights or tones) happen during a preconditioning phase that is followed by classical conditioning of one of these stimuli with an aversive or appetitive unconditioned reinforcer. As a result, subjects present a response to the directly conditioned stimulus but also a mediated response to the preconditioned stimulus never explicitly reinforced, implying initial IL. We performed three different protocols to study IL using