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Acquisition of Instrumental Conditioned Reinforcement is Resistant to the Devaluation of the Unconditioned Stimulus

The associative mechanisms responsible for the efficacy of Pavlovian stimuli during first- and second-order conditioning have been extensively studied, but little is known about the representations underlying instrumental conditioned reinforcement. The present study investigated the associative structure underlying conditioned reinforcement, by employing an unconditioned stimulus (US) devaluation procedure on a commonly used instrumental task: the acquisition of a new response with conditioned reinforcement. Whilst US-directed behaviour was abolished following devaluation, the conditioned stimulus acting as a conditioned reinforcer supported the acquisition of instrumental responding. In this preparation then, the conditioned reinforcer appears to be impervious to devaluation of its associated US, suggesting that the underlying representation maintaining behaviour is independent of the current value of the US and may reflect the activation of a central appetitive motivational state.