Dissociation of interference with the speed and accuracy of escape produced by inescapable shock

Benzodiazepines and naltrexone administered before inescapable shock block behavioral consequences of the inescapable shock such as poor shuttle box escape, reduced activity in reaction to shock, reduced social interaction, and so on. Anxiogenic beta-carboline derivatives such as FG-7142 can produce these effects by themselves. In the present study, neither diazepam nor naltrexone had any effect on the interference with Y-maze choice escape accuracy produced by inescapable shock even though they both eliminated the reduction in Y-maze escape response speed produced by inescapable shock. Analogously, FG-1742 did not lead to a reduction in Y-maze choice escape response accuracy even though it did slow escape responding. These data imply that inescapable shock interferes with escape choice learning and escape response speed by different mechanisms, the former not involving fear-anxiety processes.