Abstract
The present report examines the use of a 50-kHz ultrasonic tone in producing both behavioral and physiological responses in rats and assessed the effectiveness of an ear-plugging procedure in blocking these responses. In addition, the habituation of these responses to the tone was investigated. The presentation of the tone resulted in reliable barpress unconditioned suppression and bradycardia, in separate experiments. In both situations, the ear plugs sufficiently attenuated the signal such that neither behavioral nor physiological responses were found.
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This research was supported by PHS Grant MH-01562 to Byron A. Campbell, PHS Grant HD-04484 to Ronald J. Barfield, NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship F32 NS219-78 to Vahram Haroutunian, and NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship MH 08082 to David A. Thomas. The authors thank Byron Campbell for the generous use of his facilities.
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Thomas, D.A., Haroutunian, V. & Barfield, R.J. Behavioral and physiological habituation to an ultrasonic stimulus. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 17, 279–282 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333740
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333740