Interference and facilitation produced by noncontingent reinforcement in the appetitive situation

Abstract

The results of experiments on learned helplessness in the appetitive situation have varied from facilitation to debilitating effects produced by exposure to uncontrollable food. The conditions under which the interference effect (debilitation) may occur were examined in the first three experiments, employing the triadic design. Sixteen sets of conditions were examined. The results suggested that the effect occurs when (l) subjects are preexposed to the manipulandum to be used in the test stage, by having it present during pretreatment with uncontrollable food, and (2) the manipulandum employed during pretreatment is absent during the test stage. Furthermore, under the reverse conditions (test manipulandum absent during pretreatment, and pretreatment manipulandum present during testing) and partial reinforcement of the response contingent subjects during pretreatment, the test performance of rats exposed to uncontrollability was facilitated. Experiment 4 confirmed the occurrence of the interference effect under the suggested conditions. Apparently inconsistent results of previous studies may be interpreted in the light of these findings. 451Dogs, rats, Mongolian gerbils, and domestic chickens exposed to uncontrollable electric shock subsequently show retarded escape and avoidance learning when compared with subjects given no prior shock or given prior escapable shock (Brown

The effects of predictability and controllability in appetitive situation upon subsequent disk-pull escape learning in rats

“…This phenomenon has been termed the learned helplessness effect; it has been hypothesized that learning about noncontingency between response and outcome produces the learning of uncontrollability, and results in deleterious effects (Maier & Seligman, 1976;Seligman, 1975). Some experiments found that the learning of uncontrollability in an appetitive situation interferes with subsequent learning in aversive or appetitive situation (Caspy & Lubow, 1981;Goodkin, 1976;Job, 1987Job, , 1988Job, , 1989Sonoda, Hirai, & Okayasu, 1992;Sonoda, Okayasu, & Hirai, 1991). These findings are formally similar to effects seen in experiments with pretreatment of uncontrollability over shock.…”

Effects of loss of control over food acquisition on subsequent disk-pull escape learning

“…Therefore, it was interpreted that the deleterious effects of a lack of control over food acquisition were manifested in the disk-pull task, but did not occur remarkably on the FR 2 shuttle escape task. However, a longer length of the noncontingent phase without a prior history of control will produce more salient interference effects on the subsequent FR 2 shuttle escape learning, as seen in other reports (e.g., Job, 1987Job, , 1988Job, , 1989Oakes et al, 1982).…”

“…Until now, many studies have supported the above theory by using an appetitive test task (Sonoda, 1990;Rosellini, 1978;Rosellini & DeCola, 1981;Plonsky, Warren, & Rosellini, 1984;Rosellini, DeCola, & Shapiro, 1982) or by using an response-independent food pretreatment procedure (e. g., Job, 1987Job, , 1988Job, , 1989Goodkin, 1976;Oakes, Rosenblum, & Fox, 1982). Recently, Sonoda, Okayasu, and Hirai (1991), using a yoked design, found that the experience of loss of control over food acquisition interferes with subsequent fixed ratio (FR) 2 shuttle escape learning.…”

Desamparo aprendido e incontrolabilidade: relevância para uma abordagem analítico-comportamental da depressão

“…Resultados produzidos a partir da utilização do choque como estímulo incontrolável aparecem com maior frequência (e.g., Hunziker & Santos, 2007;Jackson et al, 1980;Maier et al, 1973, experimentos 5 e 6; Overmier & Seligman, 1967, experimento 1;Yano & Hunziker, 2000). Dados obtidos com o emprego de estimulação apetitiva incontrolável também são encontrados na literatura (e.g., Job, 1988;Oakes, Rosenblum, & Fox, 1982), mas os delineamentos experimentais e a análise de resultados não são conclusivos). Isto é, não há evidência empírica, seja com humanos, seja com não humanos, da generalidade do efeito de déficit de aprendizagem após exposição a estímulos incontroláveis, quando esses estímulos incontroláveis são apetitivos.…”