Specificity of process, response, and stimulus in behavioral bioassays.

Reported 3 experiments which studied aspects of the behavioral specificity of the "biochemical transfer" phenomenon. In Exp I, using 120 common goldfish, an acquisition extract facilitated acquisition but not extinction, while an extinction extract facilitated extinction but not acquisition. In Exp II, using 60 Ss from Exp I and 20 additional Ss, brain extracts facilitated an avoidance response only if they originated in donors that made that same response; extracts from donors that did not respond, although exposed to identical stimuli, did not modify recipient behavior. In Exp III, the biochemical transfer effect was found to be stimulus specific in 48 large and 111 small Ss. Results suggest that the extracts in question are behavior specific and do not generally affect behavior in a global excitatory or global inhibitory way. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)