Control over noxious events and choice

Abstract

Three experiments are reported assessing whether rats prefer controllable over uncontrollable aversive shock. In Experiment 1, subjects chose between escapable and inescapable shock while relative shock duration varied parametrically. In Experiment 2, subjects again chose between escapable and inescapable shock, but duration was held constant and equal. The final experiment gave subjects a choice between avoidable and unavoidable shock under several signaling conditions. Choice behavior proved sensitive to relative shock duration and to predictability of shock but not to controllability of shock.Controllability and predictability are closely related dimensions. When an event is controllable, it is contingent upon the occurrence of a response. When an event is predictable, it is contingent upon the occurrence of a stimulus. Over the past several years, research in our laboratory has focused on the effects of predictability on choice behavior. , 1975). This work has consistently demonstrated a strong preference for predictable over unpredictable aversive events that is independent of the presence or absence of control. In light of the conceptual similarity between controllability and predictability, it may be that a similar preference exists for controllable over uncontrollable aversive events.Several findings indirectly support this prediction. These findings suggest that controllable shock conditions are less aversive than uncontrollable shock conditions. For example, stimuli paired with escapable shock produce less response suppression than do stimuli paired with inescapable shock (Desiderato & Newman, 1971;Imada & Soga, 1971;Mowrer & Viek, 1948; Osborne, Mattingly, Redmon, & Osborne, 1975). Further, less ulceration is produced by escapable shock (Moot, Cebula, & Crabtree, 1970) and by avoidable-escapable shock (Weiss, 1968, Experiment 2, 1971a, 1971b than by shock that is unavoidable and inescapable. Similarly, controllable shock Experiment 1 of this report was based on a thesis submitted by the first author under the direction of the second to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MA degree. The research was supported by Grant BG-33725 from the National Science Foundation. Reprints may be obtained from Pietro Badia, . Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403. produces less weight loss and faster weight gain (Weiss, 1968(Weiss, , 1971a(Weiss, , 1971cand results in less depletion of whole-brain norepinephrine (Weiss, Stone, & Harrell, 1970).lf, as these data suggest, controllability reduces the aversiveness of noxious situations, then subjects should prefer those conditions where control over shock is available over those where such control is absent. However, a direct test of this prediction by Schuster and Rachlin (1968) failed to obtain such a preference.' They gave pigeons in a concurrent-chains procedure a choice between a terminal link containing response-dependent shock and one containing res...

Preference for predictable vs. controllable shock

“…Gastric lesions are typically greater following uncontrollable (inescapable or unavoidable) aversive stimulation than following similar exposure to those events when escape or avoidance is possible (Gliner, 1972;Moot, Cebulla, & Crabtree , 1970 ;Weiss, 1968;Weiss , 1971a). However, unlike the studies reporting consistent preference for predictable over unpredictable aversive situations, consistent preference for control over aversive events has not been shown (Abbott & Badia, 1979 ;Schuster & Rachlin, 1968) .…”