Extinction and maintenance of avoidance behavior using response-independent shocks

Hurwitz, Harry M. B.; Roberts, Albert E.; Greenway, Linda

doi:10.3758/bf03328701

Cited by 15 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…If the argument now is that removal of shock removes the basis for activation of defense reactions, then why is this case different from cases in which avoidance responding persists indefinitely after such removal (Solomon, Kamin & Wynne 1953)? In some studies free-operant avoidance responding has persisted when response-independent shocks were delivered during extinction (e.g., Hurwitz, Roberts & Greenway, 1972;Powell 1972;Smith 1977); in other studies, however, the elimination of the response contingency has quickly led to cessation of responding (e.g., Coulson, Coulson & Gardner 1970;Davenport, Coger & Spector 1970). How can the above assumption account for both of these results?…”

Section: Avoidance Theory: Solutions or More Problems?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The defense motivation system: A theory of avoidance behavior

1982

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A motivational system approach to avoidance behavior is presented. According to this approach, a motivational state increases the probability of relevant response patterns and establishes the appropriate or “ideal” consummatory stimuli as positive reinforcers. In the case of feeding motivation, for example, hungry rats are likely to explore and gnaw, and to learn to persist in activities correlated with the reception of consummatory stimuli produced by ingestion of palatable substances. In the case of defense motivation, fearful rats are likely to flee or freeze, and to learn to persist in activities correlated with consummatory stimuli produced by flight from a dangerous place. Defense system activation is distinct from alarm reactions. The latter prepare the animal for probable noxious events, involve relatively intense negative affect and extinguish rapidly in situations where the noxious event no longer occurs. In contrast, defense system activation potentiates innate and modified defense reactions, thus preparing the animal for possible, but not necessarily probable, noxious events; it involves little or no negative affect and extinguishes very slowly when the noxious event no longer occurs. With these assumptions and the resulting model we attempt to resolve several long-standing problems in avoidance learning, including the low correlation between negative affect and avoidance performance, differential rates of extinction for avoidance performance and conditioned emotional responses, and evidence that some avoidance responses are much more easily learned than others. In addition, the model has implications for the study of parallels between appetitive and aversive motivation, sign tracking in aversive conditioning, and orientation of flight responses. Historical antecedents and alternative approaches are discussed.

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