The role of proprioceptive stimulus change in the rat’s avoidance learning

Abstract

Barpress avoidance responses produce little change in proprioceptive feedback and are extremely difficult for rats to learn. In contrast, avoidance responses, such as running to a safe place, produce a large change in proprioceptive feedback and are learned very rapidly. On the basis of these findings, Meyer, Cho, & Wesemann (1960) proposed that the reinforcement for avoidance learning might come from the change in proprioceptive feedback provided by the avoidance response. Contrary to this hypothesis, the rats in the present experiment had great difficulty in learning to avoid shock by jumping, a response which produces a large change in proprioceptive feedback.

The defense motivation system: A theory of avoidance behavior

“…We were dissuaded by a growing body of evidence, mostly from Bolles's laboratory (see Bolles 1972a), showing that the reinforcing value of WS offset, FS onset, and shock escape contingencies vary with the required avoidance response. We had also begun to examine the amount of stimulus feedback provided by the response itself (Masterson, Whipple & Benner 1972), and our finding that responses providing similar stimulus feedback were learned differently as a function of their consequences strengthened our conviction that the quality, more than the quantity, of response-produced stimulus changes determines reinforcement.…”

Advances toward a biological theory of aversive learning: Flirtation or commitment?

“…What they do is identify another class of stimuli -those associated with the act of flight, independent of the specific environmental setting in which flight occurs. They mention proprioceptive and kinesthetic stimuli, but on the basis of their own findings Masterson, Whipple & Benner 1972), they downplay the importance of such stimuli. (At any rate, they conclude that they are not necessary for effective reinforcement.)…”

Vertical Jumping and Signaled Avoidance

“…Some authors (e.g., Masterson, Whipple, & Benner, 1972, in their study of the jump-intoair avoidance response) suggest that these difficulties stem from the necessity of providing a "safe" place (i.e., one negatively correlated with shock delivery). The suggestion that access to a safe place can facilitate the acquisition of an avoidance response has been demonstrated in other studies (e.g., Baron, DeWaard, & Lipson, 1977).…”

“…In the present experiment, a modification of the jumping response used by Masterson et al (1972) was developed in order to improve its recording accuracy. Masterson et al measured the response visually, a jump being counted if the subject was not touching the floor grid at a given moment.…”