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ADRENOCORTICAL INFLUENCES ON FREE‐OPERANT AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR 1
Author(s) -
Wertheim George A.,
Conner Robert L.,
Levine Seymour
Publication year - 1967
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1901/jeab.1967.10-555
Subject(s) - psychology , stimulus (psychology) , adrenocorticotropic hormone , avoidance learning , operant conditioning , shock (circulatory) , developmental psychology , audiology , reinforcement , endocrinology , medicine , neuroscience , hormone , social psychology , cognitive psychology
Rats were conditioned to avoid shock on a free‐operant avoidance schedule in which no exteroceptive stimulus signaled impending shock. Injections of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) or dexamethasone raised blood levels of glucocorticoids. These increases were accompanied by changes in avoidance performance: there was a higher frequency of long‐duration interresponse times, a greater stability among them, and fewer short interresponse times, total responses, and shocks.