Conditioned Defensive Burying as a Function of Stimulus Modality and Stimulus Accessibility

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Abstract
Studied the effects of a single shock presentation upon defensive burying of a second, externally located aversive stimulus (a flashbulb). Twenty-one, male Holtzman rats received defensive-burying testing in a rectangular enclosure having a bedding-material floor. S s initially exposed to the shock defensively buried an externally located flashbulb when it was discharged. Previously shocked rats did not display such behavior to an unactivated flashbulb. During subsequent phases, it was shown that previously non-shocked S s buried the flash stimulus only when it was made partially accessible. The results of this four-phase experiment indicate that the defensive-burying response is sensitive to both the modality and accessibility of the aversive stimulus.

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