Feedback stimuli and the extinction of avoidance responding in rats.

Trained 24 female Wistar rats to avoid electric shock in a 2-way shuttlebox with a feedback stimulus contingent upon each avoidance response in order to investigate extinction of the avoidance response. Shock presentations were then discontinued. Results indicate that the temporal relationship of the avoidance response and feedback was disrupted by continuously presenting the feedback stimulus or by random presentations of the stimulus. These procedures prolonged extinction relative to complete withdrawal of the feedback, but enhanced extinction relative to response contingent presentations of the feedback. Parallels between patterns of extinction found with these procedures and those found with appetitive reinforcers are discussed. (French abstract) (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)