Punishment following escape and avoidance training

Abstract

Rats were trained in a runway for five days with a 0, I, 2, or 4-sec delay between grid drop and shock onset followed by four days of extinction with punishment. The O-sec (escape) Ss showed less resistance to extinction and slower running during extinction. NOle 1.

Self-punitive behavior: Effects of percentage of punishment on extinction of escape and avoidance responses

“…In general, avoidance-trained Ss were more resistant to punishment-extinction than escape-trained Ss, thus confirming and extending the findings of Hurwitz, Bolas, & Haritos (1961) and Beecroft & Brown (1967). The superiority of avoidance-trained Ss was reflected in both speed and in the number of Ss extinguished.…”

Acquisition and extinction of runway performance under escape, avoidance, and partial-avoidance procedures

“…The results of the present experiment are consistent with those obtained by Beecroft and Brown (1967) in that the partial-avoidance paradigm yielded higher terminal running speeds than escape or avoidance procedures. Indeed, at the end of training, the four groups in each study that had been trained under identical conditions had attained the same relative ranks in the second and third runway segments, and, over early trials, in Segment 1 also.…”

“…Relative group performance levels proved to be consistent with a simple arithmetic model based on the assumption that changes in running speeds affect the aversiveness of the situation by altering US duration, CS duration, and effective US length. Beecroft and Brown (1967) have reported an experiment in which the relative effectiveness of three different locomotor-training paradigms (escape, avoidance, and partial-avoidance) was evaluated with rats in a straight alley. The escape-trained animals were shocked throughout the runway, whereas avoidance-trained rats were allowed ample time (2 or 4 sec) to reach the goal prior to shock onset.…”

Patterns in avoidance extinction

“…We expect that any variable which produces fast running will increase resistance to extinction. For example, short avoidance intervals produce the fastest running speeds and also seem to increase resistance to extinction (Beecroft & Brown, 1967). Running slowly functions as a cessative factor in that the probability that extinction will occur on the very next trial is fairly sizable.…”