Comparison of Tone, Light, and Chamber Vibration as Warning Stimuli in a Free-Operant Discriminated Avoidance Procedure

Two albino rats lever-pressed to avoid grid shock. Both subjects were trained wirh the simultaneous presentation of a 2500-cps tone and chamber light warning signal. Following stabilization of IRT patterns, one of the two stimulus components was deleted during one 6-hr. probe session. Later in the smdy the opposite stimulus component was deleted for a second 6-hr. probe session. Both subjects continued to place most avoidance responses in the presence of the tone-light combination or either component alone. Avoidance responding during a 6-hr. session with no warning signal showed a clear temporal discrimination. A subsequent 6-hr. probe session incorporated chamber vibration in substirution for the tone-light combination and resulted in efficient discriminated avoidance responding even though this stimulus modality had not been used during training sessions. Field and Boren (1963) investigated an adjusting avoidance procedure using multiple auditory and visual warning stimuli. In their study a series of chamber lights and vacying frequency click rates were the warning stimuli. They observed that subjects placed most of their responses close to the onset of shock when both the auditory and visual stimuli were presented simultaneously. When the auditory stimulus was presented alone, subjects responded similarly. However, when only the visual stimulus was presented, response rates were higher. A situation in which no warning signal was presented produced a greatly elevated response rate. The present study compared the effectiveness of cone, light, and chamber vibration as warning stimuli in a free-operant discriminated avoidance procedure

Art · Audiology · Cognitive psychology · Operant conditioning · Reinforcement · Tone (literature · Tone burst · Communication · Medicine · Neural dynamics and brain function · Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology · Visual perception and processing mechanisms

• A Bibliography of Articles of Interest to Teachers of Psychology Appearing in Psychological Reports 1955–2010

  Open Access•Charles I Abramson, Lisa A Curb et al.•Psychological Reports•2011

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