Graded acquisition of an instrumental avoidance response by the spinal rat

Eight pairs of spinal rats were exposed to an instrumental conditioning paradigm in which one animal served as the experimental and the other as a yoked control animal. An electrode, inserted into the experimental animal's foot, contacted an aqueous solution delivering shock to both animals. Leg flexion terminated the shock. Following two consecutive min without shock, the experimental animal's solution was raised an additional millimeter and training was re-instated. This procedure was repeated 4 times, or until the experimental animal failed to reach the 2 min criterion. In Run 1, one leg was trained; during Run 2, the contralateral leg was used. In addition, the animal which served as the experimental in Run 1 served as the yoked control in Run 2 and vice versa. The results indicate that the spinal rat is capable of acquiring successively higher criteria in an instrumental conditioning routine. In conjunction with previous results, these findings suggest that instrumental avoidance learning can occur in the spinal cord.