Question

We say that inhibition is a psychological process antagonistic to excitation. Describe the summation test for conditioned inhibition and explain why passing this test indicates that inhibition is antagonistic to excitation.

Answer 1

Solution. # The summation test is one of two widely accepted tests for whether a stimulus functions as a conditioned inhibitor i.e retardation of acquisition test a is the other. * Conditioned inhibition is an internal state that prevents a an organism from making some response, like salt vation. As an intervening variable, it must be operationally defined . To say that an organism has a acquired a conditioned inhibitory response, two tests. must be passed : retardation test @ summation test. * Inhibition is a type of classical conditioning in which the conditioned stimulus ((s) becomes a signal for the absence of the unconditioned stimulus des). In Pavlou's world all stimulus are excitatory or inhibitory depending on the history of cs has had with the vcs. In behaviorism, excitatory conditioning occurs when a conditioned stimulus ces) has a positive relationship with the unconditioned stimulus (US) – essentially the es eventually predicts the occuntence of the us.