Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior logoLink to Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
. 1965 May;8(3):135–146. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1965.8-135

Stress-induced breakdown of an appetitive discrimination1

Eliot Hearst
PMCID: PMC1338380  PMID: 14302745

Abstract

Rats trained to discriminate between SD and SΔ for food reinforcement showed marked impairments in this discrimination when strong, unavoidable shocks occurred at the termination of a third stimulus. The predominant feature of this impairment was a supernormal rate of unreinforced (SΔ) behavior. Shocks delivered without exteroceptive warning also led to a discriminative breakdown. The effect was a direct function of shock intensity. When behavior was strongly suppressed in the third stimulus by response-correlated shock (“punishment”), instead of unavoidable shock, breakdowns were only temporary; as soon as responding recovered from its overall suppression, discriminative performance returned to normal. The discriminative deterioration may be interpreted as an emotional by-product of frequent aversive stimulation, but accidental contingencies could also have played a role.

Full text

PDF
135

Selected References

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

  1. AMSEL A., MALTZMAN I. The effect upon generalized drive strength of emotionality as inferred from the level of consummatory response. J Exp Psychol. 1950 Oct;40(5):563–569. doi: 10.1037/h0061101. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. APPEL J. B. Punishment and shock intensity. Science. 1963 Aug 9;141(3580):528–529. doi: 10.1126/science.141.3580.528-a. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. BRETHOWER D. M., REYNOLDS G. S. A facilitative effect of punishment on unpunished behavior. J Exp Anal Behav. 1962 Apr;5:191–199. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1962.5-191. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. RAY O. S., STEIN L. Generalization of conditioned suppression. J Exp Anal Behav. 1959 Oct;2:357–361. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1959.2-357. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. REYNOLDS G. S. Behavioral contrast. J Exp Anal Behav. 1961 Jan;4:57–71. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1961.4-57. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. REYNOLDS G. S. OPERANT EXTINCTION NEAR ZERO. J Exp Anal Behav. 1964 Mar;7:173–176. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1964.7-173. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. REYNOLDS G. S. Relativity of response rate and reinforcement frequency in a multiple schedule. J Exp Anal Behav. 1961 Apr;4:179–184. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1961.4-179. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Sidman M. Normal Sources of Pathological Behavior. Science. 1960 Jul 8;132(3419):61–68. doi: 10.1126/science.132.3419.61. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior are provided here courtesy of Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior

RESOURCES