OVERTRAINING AND TRANSFER PROCESSES.

TO TEST IMPLICATIONS OF ATTENTIONAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE OVERTRAINING REVERSAL EFFECT (ORE), INDEPENDENT GROUPS OF RATS WERE TRAINED OR OVERTRAINED ON A SIMULTANEOUS DISCRIMINATION IN A T MAZE. IN THE SIMULTANEOUS SHIFT EXPERIMENT, SS WERE SHIFTED EITHER INTRA- OR EXTRADIMENSIONALLY TO ANOTHER SIMULTANEOUS DISCRIMINATION PROBLEM. IN THE SUCCESSIVE SHIFT EXPERIMENT, SS WERE SHIFTED INTRA- OR EXTRADIMENSIONALLY TO A SUCCESSIVE DISCRIMINATION PROBLEM. ALTHOUGH ORE WAS REPLICATED, NONE OF THE OTHER GROUP COMPARISONS SUBSTANTIATED AN ATTENTIONAL INTERPRETATION OF THE PHENOMENON. AN EXPLANATION OF ORE CONGRUENT WITH RESULTS OBTAINED IN OTHER SHIFT CONDITIONS IS SUGGESTED BY THE TRANSFER OF OVERT RESPONSE TENDENCIES FROM THE PRESHIFT TO THE POSTSHIFT PROBLEM.