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Response patterning on an avoidance schedule as a function of time-correlated stimuli.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|November 1, 1972
Summary
This study shows that how avoidance responses are patterned depends on time-correlated stimuli. Fewer signaled time segments, using more lights at once, increased response rates in rhesus monkeys.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral neuroscience
- Animal behavior
Background:
- Avoidance response patterning is crucial for survival.
- Understanding how external stimuli influence these responses is key.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the control of avoidance response patterning by time-correlated stimuli.
- To determine how the segmentation of the avoidance interval affects response rates and patterns.
Main Methods:
- Rhesus monkeys were subjected to varying shock-shock and response-shock intervals.
- The avoidance interval was segmented using an eight-light display, correlating lights with time segments (8, 4, or 2 segments).
- Response patterning was examined under segmented and non-segmented (all lights on) conditions, including sequential light reversal.
Main Results:
- Increasing the number of simultaneously lit lights (decreasing signaled time segments) led to increased response rates.
- This manipulation also shifted interresponse time distributions towards shorter intervals.
- When lights signaled discrete time segments (one light at a time), response rates were consistently low.
Conclusions:
- Time-correlated stimuli, specifically the degree of interval segmentation, significantly influence avoidance response patterning.
- Simpler temporal signaling (fewer segments, more lights concurrently) enhances response rates in this paradigm.
- These findings contribute to understanding the temporal control of behavior.