Light- and dark-contingent bar pressing in the rat as a function of age and motivation.

Goodrick, Charles L.

doi:10.1037/h0030017

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…It is also possible that control 5s pressed the bar to turn off the light. It has been shown that rats will learn to press a bar to decrease illumination in the chamber (e.g., Goodrick, 1970;Lockard, 1966). The purpose of the light was to increase the amount of frustration in Groups 15-0 and 15-1, since a previous study (Daly, 1969b) had shown that groups given frustration conditioning to apparatus cues plus a light jumped a hurdle faster to escape these cues than if frustration was conditioned only to the apparatus cues.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acquisition of a bar-press response to escape frustrative nonreward and reduced reward.

Daly

McCroskery²

1973

Journal of Experimental Psychology

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Rats given reinforced placement trials to a 15-pellet reward were subsequently given either 1 pellet or 0 pellets and were lifted out of the box if they pressed a bar. Bar-press speeds were faster for these two experimental groups than for control groups which had not been given the 15-pellet reward. These results indicated that rats would learn a bar-press response to escape frustrative nonreward and reduced reward.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acquisition of a bar-press response to escape frustrative nonreward and reduced reward.

Daly

McCroskery²

1973

Journal of Experimental Psychology

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“…[22, 23, 24, 25]). However, lights have also been used as effective reinforcers during operant conditioning [2, 27, 14]. Experiment 1 aimed to determine whether a brief bright light serves as a punisher.…”

Section: Experiments 1: Punishmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Further examination led Campbell and Messing [6] to suggest that light is likely aversive even at the lowest levels of illumination in rats. However, a considerable number of studies have proposed that light—at some levels—may not be aversive [36], and might even act as a reinforcer [2, 14, 40]. …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Brief light as a practical aversive stimulus for the albino rat

Barker

Sanabria

Lasswell

et al. 2010

Behavioural Brain Research

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Bright light was an effective aversive stimulus for Wistar rats in punishment, escape, and avoidance paradigms. Contingent punishment of lever-pressing maintained by concurrent schedules of food delivery shifted presses to an alternate lever, and depressed overall response rates. Periodic non-contingent presentation of the light prompted escape responding (head entry into a hole). Unsignaled avoidance contingencies were not effective, but pre-pulse signaling of light supported avoidance behavior. These results demonstrate a possible alternative to foot-shock, one with greater ecological validity, and one that might avoid some of the physiological effects that accompany electric shock. KeywordsAvoidance; Escape; Punishment; Burrow; Light Aversion; Rat Electric footshock has served as the prototypical aversive stimulus in experimental preparations using rats [34,30]. Footshock is popular for its reliability, utility at a wide range of current, and the feasibility of titrating shock levels for individual subjects. But electric shock has its downsides: It often induces secondary effects such as long term sleep disruption [41], altered social behavior [27], reduction in locomotion, rearing, and grooming behaviors, as well as an increase in immobility and defecation [45]. Footshock has also received criticism when used to model conditions such as depression or anxiety disorder that are produced by stressors that lack a comparable component of pain [28]. Finally, the nature

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“…Numerous research findings have suggested that not only the switching on of light but also its switching off in the Skinner box serves as a reinforcement (Berlyne, Koenig & Hirota, 1966;Goodrick, 1970;Matysiak, 1980). Hence, theoretically at least, both variants of sensory reinforcement can be used as equivalent methods in stimulus seeking studies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of handling on the exploratory activity of rats in settings varying in level of sensory stimulation1

Osiński¹,

Matysiak²

2008

Polish Psychological Bulletin

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This study tests the assumptions of need for stimulation theory. According the main hypothesis of this theory, the stimulus seeking activity of an organism in an unfamiliar environment is affected by two main temperamental traits: emotional reactivity and need for stimulation. In a familiar setting, the influence of emotional reactivity disappears, while the need for stimulation persists. Two experiments were run in which animals' emotionality was manipulated by means of presence or absence of handling and the level of environmental stimulation was manipulated by varying the intensity of light to which the animals were exposed. Sixty male Wistar rats were tested in the first experiment. Stimulus seeking activity was registered in the Skinner-type chambers where animals could switch the light on by every head dip into one of two holes, the so-called experimental hole. Animals were tested in five 30-minute sessions repeated every 48 hours. As predicted, the effect of emotionality on exploration emerged at the beginning of the experiment (handled rats demonstrated a stronger preference for the experimental hole), whereas the effect of the level of environmental stimulation on the total number of head-dips emerged in all the experimental sessions. The second experiment involved 40 rats and followed a similar design, but the stimulus seeking activity was measured in the situation where the animals could switch the light off by dipping their heads into the experimental hole. Contrary to predictions, the experimental factors had no significant effect on the animals' stimulus seeking activity. Only the results of the first experiment confirm the assumptions of need for stimulation theory.

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Light- and dark-contingent bar pressing in the rat as a function of age and motivation.

Cited by 16 publications

References 22 publications

Acquisition of a bar-press response to escape frustrative nonreward and reduced reward.

Acquisition of a bar-press response to escape frustrative nonreward and reduced reward.

Brief light as a practical aversive stimulus for the albino rat

The effects of handling on the exploratory activity of rats in settings varying in level of sensory stimulation1

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