Continuity and intensity of shock in one-way avoidance learning in the rat |
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| Authors: | Stephen E Dieter |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, 60115, DeKalb, Illinois
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| Abstract: | Six groups of rats (n = 16) differed with respect to the continuity of shock (continuous or discontinuous) and the shock intensity (.3, .8, or 1.6 mA) used during 65 one-way avoidance-conditioning trials. In general, a facilitative effect on one-way avoidance learning was obtained for continuous as opposed to discontinuous shock and for strong as opposed to weak shock. For both variables, the results are opposite to those obtained in discriminated shuttlebox-avoidance and barpress avoidance tasks. The data support an interpretation of the effect of continuity of shock which holds that discontinuous shock is, in effect, less intense than continuous shock. This interpretation allows the effects of the continuity-of-shock variable to be incorporated within the effective reinforcement theory of avoidance learning which has been proposed to account for shock-intensity effects in various avoidance tasks. |
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