Despite step-down inhibitory avoidance procedures that have been widely implemented in rats and mice to study learning and emotion phenomena, performance of other species in these tasks has received less attention. The case of the Mongolian gerbil is of relevance considering the discrepancies in the parameters of the step-down protocols implemented, especially the wide range of foot-shock intensities (i.e., 0.4–4.0 mA), and the lack of information on long-term performance, extinction effects, and behavioral patterning during these tasks. Experiment 1 aimed to (a) characterize gerbils’ acquisition, extinction, and steady-state performance during a multisession (i.e., extended) step-down protocol adapted for implementation in a commercially-available behavioral package (Video Fear Conditioning System—MED Associates Fairfax, VT, USA), and (b) compare gerbils’ performance in this task with two shock intensities – 0.5 vs. 1.0 mA—considered in the low-to-mid range. Results indicated that the 1.0 mA protocol produced more reliable and clear evidence of avoidance learning, extinction, and reacquisition in terms of increments in freezing and on-platform time as well as suppression of platform descent. Experiment 2 aimed to (a) assess whether an alternate protocol consisting of a random delivery of foot shocks could replicate the effects of Experiment 1 and (b) characterize gerbils’ exploratory behavior during the step-down task (jumping, digging, rearing, and probing). Random shocks did not reproduce the effects observed with the first protocol. The data also indicated that a change from random to response-dependent shocks affects (a) the length of each visit to the platform, but not the frequency of platform descends or freezing time, and (b) the patterns of exploratory behavior, namely, suppression of digging and rearing, as well as increments in probing and jumping. Overall, the study demonstrated the feasibility of the extended step-down protocol for studying steady performance, extinction, and reacquisition of avoidance behavior in gerbils, which could be easily implemented in a commercially available system. The observation that 1.0 mA shocks produced a clear and consistent avoidance behavior suggests that implementation of higher intensities is unnecessary for reproducing aversive-conditioning effects in this species. The observed patterning of freezing, platform descents, and exploratory responses produced by the change from random to periodic shocks may relate to the active defensive system of the gerbil. Of special interest is the probing behavior, which could be interpreted as risk assessment and has not been reported in other rodent species exposed to step-down and similar tasks.

After a 5-decade armed conflict, a peace process was recently initiated in Colombia. Researchers of this conflict have frequently argued that decades of excessive mass-media exposure to conflict-related information have resulted in negative emotional outcomes in the Colombian population, which could be responsible for the observed apathy and disbelief regarding peace. Notwithstanding the relevance of these theoretical analyses, no experimental studies have explored the emotional response of the Colombian population to information depicting different types of conflict-related violence. In the present study, a well-established experimental methodology (Affective Image Visualization Paradigm; Bradley, Greenwald, & Hamm, 1993) was adapted to explore the emotional responses of college students (N ϭ 231) to photographs depicting the Colombian armed conflict. Relevant pictures were obtained from national and international newspapers and magazines via a systematic search. The 48 selected images portrayed the 5 types of violence that characterized the Colombian armed conflict, namely massacres, terrorist attacks, raids, forced recruitment, and kidnapping/forced disappearances. The participants' emotional experiences of the Colombian-conflict photographs were assessed across the dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance. Colombian-conflict images produced strong negative affective states, similar to those elicited by unpleasant images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS; Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 2008). Women experienced these emotional states with more intensity than men. Images portraying massacres and terrorist attacks produced higher emotional reactivity. Lastly, perceived relation of the images to the Colombian conflict and age predicted the intensity of the Editor's Note. Continue the conversation by submitting your comments and questions about this article/book review to PeacePsychology .org/peaceconflict. (The Editor of PeacePsychology.org reserves the right to exclude material that fails to contribute to constructive discussion.

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