Septal ablation in the rat and bar pressing under appetitive and aversive control.

Assigned 6 male hooded rats with bilateral septal lesions and 3 Ss with bilateral cortical control lesions to bar-press in a successive discrimination (go, no-go) task. Over successive experimental conditions, responding was maintained by the following reinforcers: food, shock escape, shock avoidance, concurrent food reinforcement and shock avoidance, and, once again, food. Ss with septal lesions responded to the no-go stimulus at higher rates than did controls only under the simple food-reinforcement conditions. Results suggest that disinhibition of bar pressing following septal ablation in rats may occur with appetitive and not with aversive schedules of reinforcement. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)