Abstract
Three rats were trained on a continuous escape-signaled adjusting avoidance schedule. When the rat failed to avoid, pulsed grid shock (shock-shock = 0 s) was presented. A lever press terminated shock and produced a 10-s avoidance component. Each additional lever press added another 10 s to the avoidance component (upper limit = 110 s). One of 10 different auditory warning stimuli was associated with each interval. Later sessions provided fixed interval, variable ratio, and differential reinforcement of other behavior escape schedules. Each escape schedule maintained escape rates comparable to the rates produced in appetitive studies. Escape rates varied inversely with the shock-shock interval. The data yielded during the avoidance periods indicated that some intermittent escape schedules improved avoidance performance. Further, the majority of the avoidance responses were shifted to and continued to be emitted during warning stimuli and intervals temporally distant to shock. The data were interpreted as support for the two-factor theory of avoidance, but they also lend support to safety-signal explanation of avoidance behavior.
Published Version
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