Abstract
The study of thermally motivated instrumental behavior was extended to the avoidance-conditioning paradigm. Six Ss were trained on a thermal Sidman avoidance schedule. The UCS temperature and the ambient temperature were varied, while the temporal properties of the schedule were held constant. The results indicated that whenever the difference between the two thermal conditions is sufficient to sustain responding, the probability of an avoidance response is related to the mean of the UCS and ambient temperatures.
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Matthews, T.J., Morin, L.P. & Church, R.M. Avoidance of thermal stimuli in the rat. Psychon Sci 22, 59–60 (1971). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335939
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335939