ZCYQ.htm

NR ZCYQ

AU Heistad,G.T.

TI An effect of electroconvulsive shock on a conditioned avoidance response

QU Journal of Comparative Physiology and Psychology 1955; 48: 482-487

PT journal article

AB Sixty male albino rats served as Ss in this experiment. They were divided into an avoidance group (N=30) and a control group (n=30), matched on the basis of their locomotor activity in a circular alley prior to conditioning. The avoidance animals were given 59 conditioning trials, one per day, during which they learned to avoid a 6 mA painful shock by moving forward to an adjoining section of the alley at the onset of a CS (reduced illumination). The control animals were given equivalent training in the alley, except that the CS was never reinforced by painful shock. Eighteen of the 30 animals in each group were then given 14 electroconvulsive shock (ECS) treatments. Retention tests were begun on the fourth day after the last ECS treatment to determine the effect of ECS on general activity and on the retention of the conditioned avoidance response. The general level of activity in the alley was significantly depressed by ECS in the control animals but was not affected by ECS among animals that had received avoidance conditoning prior to treatment. The conditioned avoidance response was significantly attenuated by ECS. Changes in general activity and changes in the unconditioned response to the CS were ruled out as determinants of this attenuation. It was tentatively assumed, for present purposes, that a conditioned avoidance response is mediated by fear. An attempt was made to account for the effect of ECS on such responses to fear in terms of changes in fear stimuli associated with changes in hypothalamic and autonomic activity and in terms of drive changes resulting from ECS. Alternative interpretations were not ruled out.

SP englisch

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