TRANSFER OF RESPONDING BETWEEN DIFFERENT STIMULI IN RATS TRAINED IN 2 AVOIDANCE TASKS

Transfer of responding between stimuli in different sensory modalities (tone and light) was assessed in rats subjected to shuttle- and Skinner-box avoidance learning. The results showed that in rats trained in a shuttle-box no transfer of responding was evident when the animals were shifted from a steady tone to a steady light while a clear transfer occurred when the rats were given a short experience of the new stimulus (light) in association with the old one (tone) or when stimuli of the same repetition rate were adopted (pulsed tone or pulsed light). On the contrary a direct positive transfer from a steady tone to a steady light was evident in Skinner-box avoidance responding. Thus the occurence of transfer in two different avoidance procedures based on the same aversive US and on similar CS depends on the task adopted. © 1969.