Conditioned Suppression and Acceleration of Two Concurrent Responses in Rhesus Monkeys

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Abstract
Two rhesus monkeys were exposed to conditioned suppression training in which a 20-sec. stimulus, terminated by unavoidable shock, was superimposed upon a variable interval 90-sec. reinforcement schedule. A concurrent response which had no programmed consequence was recorded during initial variable interval training, acquisition, extinction, and reacquisition of conditioned suppression of the reinforced lever-pressing response. A peak in the distribution of response 2 reliably occurred 30 to 75 sec. following the average lever-pressing (response 1) reinforcement interval. With suppression training, the presentation of the suppression stimulus was reliably followed by a changeover from response 1 to response 2; the presentation of the unavoidable shock immediately resulted in a changeover from response 2 to response 1. The rate of response 2 during the suppression stimulus declined to near zero during extinction of conditioned suppression and increased to a high rate when the suppression stimulus was again terminated by unavoidable shock. The rate of response 2 was dependent upon the intensity of the unavoidable shock.

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