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Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1972 Mar;17(2):277–285. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1972.17-277

Conditioned suppression of an avoidance response by a stimulus paired with food1

Hank Davis, Charles Kreuter
PMCID: PMC1333970  PMID: 5018376

Abstract

Three food-deprived Long-Evans rats were exposed to a non-discriminated shock avoidance procedure. Superimposed upon this operant avoidance baseline were periodic presentations of a conditioned stimulus that was paired with food, the unconditioned stimulus. These pairings resulted in increases in the rate of shock over that recorded when the conditioned stimulus was not present. A traditional suppression ratio failed to reveal any differential effect of the conditioned stimulus on the overall rate of avoidance responding, although all subjects showed a consistent pattern of pausing and postshock response bursts during presentations of the conditioned stimulus. When food was withheld during a final extinction phase, the conditioned stimulus ceased to occasion increases in shock rates and disruptive postshock response bursts were eliminated. An analysis of conditioned suppression procedures is proposed that stresses not only operant-Pavlovian or appetitive-aversive incompatibility, but also the manner in which the baseline schedule of reinforcement affects operant behavior changes that are elicited by the superimposed Pavlovian procedure.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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