A review by Higgins and Morris (1984) examined the generality of avoidance conditioning in animals and humans.
For example, although most rats learn Sidman avoidance, many do not--at least with standard Sidman avoidance conditioning procedures (M.
The animal was then immediately removed from the maze and the same measurement was repeated (60 s intervals) for as many trials as needed for the rat to stay in the enclosed arm continuously for 300 s (learning criterion for the
avoidance conditioning).
In the first experiment, goldfish were trained in non-trace avoidance conditioning; in the second experiment, fish were trained in trace avoidance conditioning in which temporal cues were crucial for the learning process.
In mammals, it has been found that intraamygdaloid infusions of NMDA antagonists, such as aminophosphonopentanoic acid (AP5) and dizocilpine maleate (MK-801), prevent the acquisition of Pavlovian fear conditioning and avoidance conditioning. For example, Miserendino, Sananes, Melie, and Davis (1990) proposed that if the receptors for NMDA are to have a critical role in synaptic plasticity and NMDA antagonists (such as AP5) prevent several neural mechanisms that may underlie learning and memory, then the introduction of NMDA antagonists would interfere with memory formation in conditioning tasks.
Selection for high rates and low rates of of
avoidance conditioning in the rat.
Algunas de las publicaciones que acompanaron este periodo inicial de su carrera academica son: A note on functional relations obtained from group data (publicado en Psychological Bulletin en 1952),
Avoidance conditioning with brief shock and non exteroceptive warning signal (publicado en Science en 1953) y Two temporal parameters of the maintenance of avoidance behavior by the white rat (publicado en Comparative and Physiological Psychology tambien en 1953).
Each animal was allowed to become accustomed to the shuttle-box apparatus for 5 min before every session; the animal was then subjected to 25 daily trials/session of
avoidance conditioning in four consecutive sessions (acquisition test).
Phase 2: Approach and avoidance conditioning, part 1.
If participants failed to make 19 correct responses out of 20, they were reexposed to the avoidance conditioning block.
Subjects were then exposed to an
avoidance conditioning procedure in which one member from each relation was established as a discriminative stimulus for avoidance and nonavoidance, respectively.
That is, because of the instruction to cancel certain upcoming pictures and sounds, participants may, at the outset of
avoidance conditioning, simply have viewed all stimulus presentations (i.e., not emitted the avoidance response) and hence responding may not have come under the direct control of the avoidance schedule.
