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Stimulus conditions affecting rate of acquisition in a computer‐operated version of the two‐way active avoidance procedure
Author(s) -
ARCHER TREVOR,
ÖGREN SVENOVE,
JOHANSSON GÖRAN
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1984.tb01003.x
Subject(s) - stimulus (psychology) , psychology , audiology , unconditioned stimulus , neutral stimulus , classical conditioning , stimulus control , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , conditioning , statistics , mathematics , medicine , nicotine
Several experiments were performed with rats in order to investigate the stimulus conditions affecting the rate of acquisition of two‐way active avoidance. The number of trials per session, the duration of the Conditioned Stimulus (CS), the intertrial interval (pause time), and the intensity of the shock presentation were each varied in separate experiments. The optimal, yet practicable, conditions required to obtain a fast rate of acquisition included 40 to 60 trials per session, a 40‐sec intertrial interval, a 10‐sec Conditioned Stimulus presentation and a shock intensity of 1.0 mA. These results are discussed with regard to the problem of standardization in behavioral research manipulating biological independent variables.