Acquired relational equivalence between contexts and features

In 2 experiments, rats received a biconditional discrimination wherein separate presentations of A and B signaled 1 pair of associations (X → food and Y → no food) and presentations of C and D signaled a different pair of associations (X → no food and Y → food). In Experiment 1, A, B, C, and D were diffuse contextual stimuli in which the associations were embedded. In Experiment 2, A and C were contextual stimuli whereas B and D were features that immediately preceded the associations. To assess the associative structures acquired during training, all rats then received a revaluation procedure in which A was paired with shock and C was not. In both experiments, greater generalized suppression of behavior was observed in the presence of B than in the presence of D. These results indicate that contextual stimuli share with features the capacity to evoke the associations that they have signaled.