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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Investigating Pain-Related Avoidance Behavior using a Robotic Arm-Reaching Paradigm
Published on: October 3, 2020
Evidence for the interchangeability of an avoidance behavior and a negative occasion setter
Mieke Declercq1, Jan De Houwer
1Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. miekee.declercq@ugent.be
Abstract:
Recent research on avoidance behavior provided evidence that such behavior can function as a negative occasion setter. We tested this hypothesis further by investigating whether the modulatory function of a stimulus occasion setter transfers selectively to a relation previously modulated by an avoidance behavior, and whether the modulatory function of an avoidance behavior transfers selectively to a relation previously modulated by a stimulus occasion setter. The three experiments reported in this article provided evidence to support this hypothesis. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 1 suggested that the presence of counterconditioning trials is not a necessary condition for an avoidance behavior to function as a negative occasion setter. All three reported experiments support the occasion-setting account of avoidance behavior.
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