GENERALIZATION OF EXCITATION AND INHIBITION IN CONTROL OF AVOIDANCE RESPONDING BY PAVLOVIAN CSS IN DOGS

Trained 16 adult dogs to jump a hurdle on a Sidman shock-avoidance schedule. Sessions alternated with aversive pavlovian discriminative conditioning in which CS+ and CS- were a tone and a click, respectively. In a final session, while Ss performed the avoidance response, a generalization gradient of excitation was obtained by presenting tones different in frequency from the CS+. Rate of response was greatest in the presence of CS+, diminishing as tonal frequency was varied. In Group 2, for which a click had been CS+ and a tone CS-, a U shaped inhibitory gradient was produced by presenting tones different from the CS-. Although the excitation gradient was steeper than the inhibition gradient, percentage generalization gradients showed no slope differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.