Fear of the CS and of the context in two-way avoidance learning: Between- and within-subjects manipulations

Abstract

The roles of CS fear and of context fear in signaled two-way avoidance learning were examined in two experiments in which shock intensity was manipulated either between or within subjects. For each subject, two discrete CSs, a light and a white noise, were used. For between-subjects comparisons, both CSs were paired with the same shock intensity, weak or strong. Under this condition, in which fear of the CSs and the context was greater with strong than with weak shock, avoidance performance varied inversely with shock intensity. For within-subjects comparisons, the light was paired with strong shock and the white noise with weak shock, or vice versa. In this case, context fear was constant during presentation of each CS, and avoidance performance varied directly with shock intensity. Additionally, intertrial responding was directly related to the amount of context fear. These results support effective reinforcement theory, an extension of two-factor theory, which acknowledges the contribution to avoidance learning both of CS fear and of context fear. The interchangeable effectiveness of visual and auditory stimuli as CSs is discussed with regard to stimulus specificity in avoidance learning.