Abstract
A 2 × 2 factorial experiment was conducted in a licking-suppression situation to test if a rat could count the number of shocks given in a 5-min session under signaled and unsignaled shock conditions. Groups F received three .7-sec grid shocks per session throughout 80 sessions, whereas Groups V received, on any day, one, two, three, four, or five shocks, with a mean of three shocks. The rats’ counting ability was assessed in terms of the post-third-shock acceleration of licking. The results of this measure were compared between Groups F and Groups V on test days in which both groups received three shocks with the identical shock sequence. There was no evidence that rats could count under either signaled or unsignaled shock conditions. The basal rate of licking was less in groups run under the unsignaled shock condition than under the signaled shock condition. The effect of fixed/variable shock frequency upon basal rate of licking was not significant. The results are discussed with reference to the optimal shock density view of Davis and Memmott (1982).
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Davis, H. Personal communication, September 1, 1982.
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This research was supported in part by a grant in aid of scientific research awarded to Hiroshi Imada for the years 1982–1983 by the Murao Foundation, Kobe, Japan.
An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03213149.
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Imada, H., Shuku, H. & Moriya, M. Can a rat count?. Animal Learning & Behavior 11, 396–400 (1983). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199793
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03199793