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THE RESPONSE‐SHOCK—SHOCK‐SHOCK INTERVAL AND UNSIGNALLED AVOIDANCE IN GOLDFISH 1
Author(s) -
Scobie Stanley R.
Publication year - 1970
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.1970.14-219
Subject(s) - shock (circulatory) , interval (graph theory) , shock response spectrum , duration (music) , mathematics , physics , medicine , combinatorics , acceleration , classical mechanics , acoustics
Goldfish were trained to swim back and forth in a shuttle tank to avoid unsignalled shocks. The response‐shock interval and the shock‐shock interval were always of equal duration; both were either 15, 30, 45, or 60 sec. Response rates varied inversely with response‐shock—shock‐shock interval duration, as has been found with rats. Percentage of shocks avoided was somewhat lower at the 15 sec response‐shock—shock‐shock interval, but otherwise did not vary systematically with changes in the interval. As the response‐shock—shock‐shock interval increased, the fish made increasingly more responses than necessary to avoid all shocks. Interresponse‐time distributions showed that response probability rose to a maximum at about 15 to 25 sec after a response, regardless of the response‐shock—shock‐shock interval. Thus, at the longer intervals the fish were responding too early in the response‐shock—shock‐shock interval to minimize response rates.