Abstract
The present experiment was run to test the hypothesis that, when shock was signaled, rats would develop effective coping responses so as to reduce the current flow through them. A 1-sec shock was delivered through a grid floor by a fixed impedance ac shock source. The current-flow measure was taken over the last 30 of 90 trials given over 3 days and indexed by “gross skin conductance” or GSC (shock). The rat under the signaled shock condition (n=15) showed higher GSC (shock) than did the rats under the unsignaled shock condition (n=14). Thus, the result contradicted the hypothesis. There was no indication that the rats developed any preparatory response during the 5-sec signal, in terms of either GSC (signal) or posture. The results were discussed with reference to the preparatory-response hypothesis and various other possibilities.
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This research was supported by a Grant in Aid for Scientific Researches (No. 245016), Ministry of Education of Japan, to Hiroshi Imada.
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Imada, H., Mino, T., Sugioka, K. et al. Measurement of current flow through the rat under signaled and unsignaled grid-shock conditions. Animal Learning & Behavior 9, 75–79 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212028
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212028