| Abstract: | Determined the effect of the number of prepunishment acquisition trials on the age dependency of passive avoidance (PA) learning of the chick in keypeck and runway tests. In 9 experiments, 1- and 4-day-old Ss were first trained to respond for heat reward. After a variable number of reinforced acquisition trials (ATs), Ss' responses were punished with aversive wing shocks. Results show that the age dependency of PA learning of the young S is related specifically to the number of reinforced training trials given prior to PA testing. When several prepunishment ATs were given, 1-day-old Ss learned as quickly as 4-day-old Ss to withhold responding when punished. However, when only a few ATs preceded PA testing, 1-day-old Ss showed significantly less response suppression than 4-day-old Ss. Rather, results suggest that the 1-day-old chick, compared with the 4-day-old chick, is deficient in learning or detecting changes in stimulus– and/or response–reinforcement contingencies. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
