Discrimination of Response-Contingent and Response-Independent Shock by Rats: Effects of Chlordiazepoxide HCL and Sodium Amylobarbitone
Open Access
- 1 May 1980
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology
- Vol. 32 (2) , 215-232
- https://doi.org/10.1080/14640748008401158
Abstract
Rats, trained to press a lever for sucrose reward on a random interval (RI) schedule, were presented while lever-pressing with two stimuli, each associated with a different schedule of shock delivery: in the presence of one stimulus (Se), shock occurred on an RI schedule irrespective of the rat's behaviour; in the presence of the other (Sp) shocks were programmed by the same schedule but delivered only when the rat pressed the lever. Both stimuli suppressed lever-pressing. In addition, the rats developed significantly different response rates in the two stimuli, thus demonstrating a discrimination between response-contingent and response-independent shock. Group data showed faster responding in Se than in Sp, supporting the view that response-contingent shock produces greater suppression than response-independent shock. Individual animal analyses, however, demonstrated that this was the case in the majority of animals, but not in all. Response suppression was alleviated by amylobarbitone sodium (15 mg/kg) or chlordiazepoxide HCI (5 mg/kg); the latter drug alleviated suppression significantly more in Sp than Se and eliminated the difference between the response rates controlled by the two stimuli.This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
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