Improvement of shuttle avoidance by handling during the intertrial interval.

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Douglas Wahlsten, Visiting Professor (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: Rats handled between trials during shuttle avoidance training were superior to those not handled on several measures of avoidance learning; handled rats were nonetheless inferior to those receiving one-way training. A second experiment clearly demonstrated that differences between shuttle and one-way avoidance could not be attributed to differences in handling. Furthermore, hypotheses which explained poor shuttle avoidance by reference to either competing freezing responses or the necessity of entering a previously shocked compartment were by themselves unable to account for the present findings. A modification and synthesis of these hypotheses was proposed to provide a better account of the present data. It was suggested that freezing will occur only in the presence of fear-motivated conflict and that conflict is present only when a new response is required which is opposed to a previously successful response.

Additional Information

Publication
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1969, 67, 252-259.
Language: English
Date: 1969
Keywords
Rats, Avoidance, Learning, Handling

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