Abstract
This study investigates the effects of exposure to inescapable shock on the acquisition of a low-activity appetitive response using a trial procedure. Inescapable shock was found to interfere with the acquisition of a nose-poke response to obtain food as compared with animals exposed to either escapable shock or no shock. In addition, general activity levels were measured separately during the trial and the intertrial interval during the appetitive test. Inescapably shocked animals were less active during the trial component than were either the escapably shocked or the nonshocked animals. However, no differential levels of activity were observed during the intertriai interval component of the appetitive test. The relevance of these findings for both the learned helplessness and the learned inactivity hypotheses is discussed.
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This research was supported by NIMH Grant 1-R03-MH31424 and NSF Grant BNS-7820678.
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Rosellini, R.A., DeCola, J.P. Inescapable shock interferes with the acquisition of a low-activity response in an appetitive context. Animal Learning & Behavior 9, 487–490 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209779
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209779