backward conditioning

a procedure in which an unconditioned stimulus is consistently presented before a neutral stimulus. Generally, this arrangement is not thought to produce a change in the effect of a neutral stimulus. Occasionally, however, the neutral stimulus may take on inhibitory functions, presumably because its occurrence signals that the unconditioned stimulus is completed or will not occur at all. It may also take on excitatory functions as a result of pseudoconditioning. Also called backward pairing. Compare forward conditioning.