This research was concerned with the effects of different classes of cues on the ability of toads (Bufo marinus) to learn an escape task, discrimination learning, in a T-maze. The cues were either a black or white brightness cue, a right or left position cue, or combinations of brightness and position cues. The toads were given a .6-A shock until they made the correct response. Results suggested that toads are capable of learning a discrimination task based on either a position or brightness cue. However, the rate of learning was influenced by strong aversion to the white arm when escaping from an aversive stimulus. No particular preference for either brightness or position cues was found independent of this aversion.
This research investigated the effects of positive and negative air ionization on the early acquisition of a Sidman (1953) avoidance response. The subjects were 20 male albino rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain. They were randomly assigned to ionization conditions and given 4 2-hr. acquisition sessions. The temporal parameters of the task were a response-shock interval of 20 sec. and a shock-shock interval of 5 sec. Shocks were delivered as 1-ma. pulses of 1 sec. duration. The results indicated that at the end of 4 2-hr. sessions the avoidance performance of rats trained in the presence of negative air ions was superior to that of rats trained in the presence of positive air ions.
To investigate the ability of larval Rana pipiens to respond to a discriminated avoidance situation light was used as the conditioned stimulus (CS), while the two unconditioned stimuli (UCS) consisted of scrambled electric shock and being chased. An avoidance response occurred when the tadpole crossed the goal line prior to the onset of the shock. An escape response occurred when the subject crossed the goal line after the onset of the shock but prior to being chased. A chase response occurred when the subject had to be chased across the goal line. A subject was considered to have learned the avoidance response when it made 7 avoidance responses during any 10 consecutive trials. The number of subjects reaching this criterion went from 0% on Day 1 to 100% on Day 12.
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