A series of studies of shuttlebox-avoidance learning in the gerbil evaluated the efficacy of an exteroceptive feedback stimulus (FS). Experiment 1 assessed the relative effectiveness of a FS at 30-and 90-sec intertrial intervals (ITls), and found that the FS and warning signal termination contingencies were additive sources of avoidance reinforcement; i.e., they produced "supernormal acquisition" at the short ITI, but not at the 90-sec ITI. The effectiveness of a FS at the 30·sec ITI was further explored in Experiments 2 and 3, in which FS duration was varied in delayed and trace avoidance conditioning, respectively. In both studies, a FS facilitated acquisition but FS duration was not a critical determinant of performance. These results were interpreted in terms of an expectancy account of the informational value of a FS, and the problem of experimentally distinguishing between cognitive and inhibition-of-fear accounts of avoidance learning was discussed.There presently exists a considerable literature demonstrating the, efficacy of an exteroceptive feedback stimulus (FS) on avoidance acquisition (Bolles & Grossen, 1969, 1970 Bower, Starr, & Lazarovitz, 1965; D'Amato, Fazarro, & Etkin, 1968;Galvani, 1977;Keehn & Nakkash, 1959). The typical finding has been that, in the absence of response-produced warning signal termination (WST), a responseproduced FS results in avoidance learning equivalent to that produced by the traditional WST contingency. Recent formulations of avoidance learning have proposed that the FS reinforces avoidance behavior because it functions as a safety signal (Bolles & Grossen, 1970) or an inhibitor of fear (Morris, 1974; Weisman & Litner, 1972). Regardless of the terms employed in conceptualizing the functional significance of feedback in controlling avoidance responses, there seems to be agreement that the efficacy of a FS can be quantified in terms of the duration of the shock-free interval that is contingent upon FS presentation (Bolles & Grossen, 1970;Morris, 1974).In the discriminative avoidance paradigm, the contingency between the avoidance response and FS insures that the FS consistently precedes the shockSupported by National ScienceFoundation Grant B043556-001 awarded to the first author. This paper is based, in part, upon Michael Twitty's master's thesis, directed by P. , 1970). Indeed, relative to the baseline provided by animals lacking both a WS and FS, evidence of learning was at best marginal. Moreover, Morris (1974, Experiment 3) has provided indirect evidence suggesting that a FS might not be an effective reinforcer at a short ITI. In a transfer-of-training test, he failed to obtain evidence of the development of inhibition to a FS at a 3D-sec ITI, although conditioned inhibition to a FS was evidenced at an ISO-sec ITI. Taken together, these results raise serious questions about the effectiveness of feedback at a short ITI.Accordingly, the purpose of Experiment I was to assess the efficacy of feedback at a short (3D-sec) compared to a long (9O-sec) ITI in the Mongol...

However, these result s do suggest that the use of threat s, und er the appropriate conditions, can have beneficial effects on further inte raction which occurs when the threat is no longer present.In conclusion, the present study suggests that threats, as coercive but justifiable devices, can induce a high rate of compli ance without necessarily creating conditions which so often seem to result in an eventual increase of conflict.

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