Abstract
Ss performed in a button-pushing task in which 0.75 sec of either 95-dB SPL or 30-dB SPL noise was delivered contingent on each response for a RRLRL pattern of responses. Ss who received high-level noise in their first exposure to the task generally learned to avoid the noise. About half (13) of the Ss who received low-level noise in their first exposure to the task learned to avoid the noise, while the other half (12) learned to deliver the noise on every response. Eight of the 12 Ss who learned to deliver low noise continued to deliver noise for every response when the noise level was increased to 95 dB. There were no consistent differences in the amount of time required to learn the pattern in low-noise and high-noise conditions.
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This project was supported by the Research and Education Committee, Minneapolis Veterans Administration Hospital.
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Brookshire, R.H. Response suppression by response-contingent noise: Effects of conditioning history. Psychon Sci 23, 265–267 (1971). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336105
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336105