PATRON ESPINOSA, Felipe; CEJA, Carlos Torres    AGUIRRE, Carlos Flores. Effects of varying the spatial position of the contextualized and contextualizing stimulus on the differential adjustment. Acta comport. []. 2013, 21, 1, pp.5-19. ISSN 0188-8145.

Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of varying the spatial location of non-contingent stimuli events (in order and place of occurrence) on differential adjustment. In the first study, eight rats were exposed to three experimental conditions that were characterized by the manipulation of the spatial coordinates in which water was delivered (fixed, sequential or random spatial coordinates) using a Fixed Time 20s schedule. In the second experiment, eight rats were exposed to conditions similar to those in the first experiment, but now there was a signal stimulus correlated with the location of water delivery. Data were analyzed as a case of contextual function proposed by Ribes & López (1985). The results suggest that the differential adjustment is affected by: (a) the consistency of the occurrence of stimuli in fixed spatial coordinates through time; (b) the conjoint occurrence of signal and water delivery location; and (c) the spatial contiguity between these stimuli. Several measurement units to identify the differential adjustment related to contextual function were proposed.

: spatial location; contextualized; contextualizing stimulus; differential adjustment; rats.

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