Contextual influences on the interaction between conflicting memories in the rat

Contextual events redundant to the learning, in sequence, of passive and active avoidance were of one type for the former task and of another for the latter. During later testing, these contextual events were found to determine which of these acquired, conflicting dispositions would be manifested in behavior. Mutual interference in retention otherwise seen under similar circumstances seemed subordinate to the influence of the three types of contextual stimuli tested—drug (pentobarbital), compound (the experimental room in which conditioning took place), and a relatively unitary stimulus (a constantly sounding buzzer). The discussion considered the defining characteristics of a “contextual stimulus” and the mechanisms through which contextual events control the manifestation of learned behaviors and alleviation of interference in retention.