Response Specification and Acquisition of Free Operant Avoidance Behavior

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In Exp. 1, 2 groups of rats were trained under a free operant avoidance schedule. The response was a press on a lever for Group BP (18 subjects) and a release of the lever for Group EP (22 subjects). Neither the rate of response nor the frequency of shock discriminated between the two groups, but there was a slight difference in the lever-holding time. In Exp. 2, 3 subjects were trained for 35 2-hr. sessions. In addition to the measures used in Exp. 1, a measure of avoidance proficiency (AVPRO) was employed. It was shown that (1) substantial improvement in avoidance developed late in training; (2) that AVPRO was correlated with changes in lever-holding behavior and was poorly related to the rate of response.

This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit: