Positive and negative transfer of conditioned aversive stimuli to a conditioned appetitive excitor as a function of aversive US intensity

Abstract

Rats were given Pavlovian aversive (Av) conditioning in which a weak (O.5-sec, O.7-rnA) or a strong (O.5-sec, lA-rnA) footshock unconditioned stimulus (US) was presented alone or in a positive, zero, or negative correlation with a flashing-light conditioned stimulus (AvCS+, AvCSo, or AvCS-, respectively). Thereafter, the subjects received Pavlovian appetitive (Ap) conditioning in which the flashing-light CS was positively correlated in a forward order with the delivery of a food US. As anticipated, for subjects that had been trained with the strong shock US, the AvCS+ retarded and the AvCS-facilitated Ap conditioning relative to both the AvCSo and the novel-CS treatments, which did not differ in effect. However, the exact opposite prevailed for the AvCS+ and AvCS-subjects that had been trained with the weak shock US. On the basis of these and other data, we propose an "ABC" model oftransfer that stresses the importance of affective, behavioral, and cognitive factors in accounting for the divergent results that are obtained in both Av-to-Ap and Ap-to-Av transfer paradigms.

How absent negativity relates to affect and motivation: an integrative relief model

“…Evidence drawing on different methods to assess the motivational nature of prevention relief adds to this ambiguity. While some studies bolster the notion that safety stimuli boost appetitive motivation ( Bromage and Scavio, 1978 ), other studies again suggest that this is highly moderated ( DeVito and Fowler, 1994 ). Additionally, there is evidence that safety stimuli induce approach motivation in the sense that animals develop a preference for the place of their occurrence ( Rogan et al, 2005 ) and are faster to run toward prevention relief signals ( Haraway et al, 1984 ).…”

Salicylate-induced changes in auditory thresholds of adolescent and adult rats

“…The grid floor delivered scrambled footshock of 1 .O mA from a BRS/LVE Generator (Model SBS-004). The level and durations of shock employed in this study are within the range reported for rats of these ages in various tasks (e.g., DeVito & Fowler, 1994;Miller & Spear, 1989;Myslivecek & Hassmannova, 1990). Tonal stimuli were produced by a T1 SN76496 programmable generator through two 40-cm Quam speakers, one mounted on the ceiling of each compartment in the center area with perforations drilled into the plastic.…”

Dual-system free-operant avoidance: extension of a theory

“…This form of positive reinforcement was explained by Dickinson and Dearing in terms of an opponent process between appetitive and aversive motivational systems under which a conditioned aversive inhibitor activates the appetitive motivational system and thereby functions like a conditioned appetitive excitor (Dickinson & Dearing, 1979). A variety of evidence confirms this functional equivalence -for example, DeVito and Fowler reported that training a flashing light as aversive inhibitor facilitates subsequent appetitive conditioning to this stimulus (DeVito & Fowler, 1994), whereas appetitive conditioning is blocked when conducted in the presence of an aversive inhibitor (Dickinson & Dearing, 1979;Laurent et al, 2018).…”