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Free Operant Avoidance Behavior of Hooded Rats: Some Notes on Within- and Between-Session Stability

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Abstract

Free operant avoidance of rats was studied in two experiments. In Experiment 1, within-session avoidance behavior (with R-S = 15 sec.) was examined in blocks of 60-, 90- and 120-min. sessions. Experiment 2 looked at within-session avoidance using rats separately trained under R-S intervals of 10, 15, 20 and 30 sec. Three levels of avoidance proficiency were found in each experiment: good, poor, and nonavoidance. Within a session, the performance of “good” avoiders was characterized by a distinct warm-up period followed by stable and proficient avoidance, while the avoidance of “poor” avoiders improved only gradually. Experiment 1 also showed that postwarm-up measures (both within and between sessions) were not altered by changes in session length. Both experiments yielded considerable interanimal differences in within-session response rate trends. These differences illustrated the difficulty in describing “typical” postwarm-up performance and suggested that the avoidance schedule had minimal control over the response rate it produced.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Catawba College, Salisbury, North Carolina, 28144, USA

    Albert E. Roberts

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  1. Albert E. Roberts
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This project was supported by grants from the Catawba College Faculty Research Committee. The excellent secretarial assistance of Mrs. Brenda McIntosh is gratefully acknowledged. Reprints may be obtained from the author, Department of Psychology, Catawba College, Salisbury, North Carolina 28144.

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Roberts, A.E. Free Operant Avoidance Behavior of Hooded Rats: Some Notes on Within- and Between-Session Stability. Psychol Rec 28, 253–262 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03394534

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