Abstract
Rats received shocks in one apparatus, and post-shock “freezing” was then assessed in that apparatus or in a different one. The assessment of freezing was made immediately after shock or after a 24-hour delay. Post-shock freezing was reduced when the animals were tested in a different apparatus from that in which shocks had been administered. No reduction in freezing was caused by the 24-hour delay. All the post-shock freezing was therefore attributable to contextual cues and to generalization between contexts. This pattern of results suggests that post-shock freezing is entirely produced by conditioned fear elicited by cues associated with shock and that no part of post-shock freezing is an unconditional response (UR) directly elicited by shock.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blanchard, R. J. and Blanchard, D. C.: Crouching as an index of fear.Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 67, 370–375, 1969.
Bolles, R. C.: Species-specific defense reactions and avoidance learning.Psychological Review, 77, 32–48, 1970.
Bolles, R. C. and Collier, A. C.: The effect of predictive cues on freezing in rats.Animal Learning and Behavior, 4, 6–8, 1976.
Bolles, R. C. and Fanselow, M. S.: Perceptualdefensive-recuperative model of fear and pain.Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3, 291–323, 1980.
Bolles, R. C. and Riley, A. L.: Freezing as an avoidance response: Another look at the operant-respondent distinction.Learning and Motivation, 4, 268–275, 1973.
Brown, J. S., Kalish, H. I., and Farber, I. E.: Conditioned fear as revealed by magnitude of startle response to an auditory stimulus.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 41, 317–328, 1951.
Dickinson, A. and Mackintosh, N. J.: Classical conditioning in animals.Annual Review of Psychology, 29, 587–612, 1978.
Fanselow, M. S.: Naloxone attenuates rat’s preference for signaled shock.Physiological Psychology, 7, 70–74, 1979.
Fanselow, M. S. and Bolles, R. C.: Naloxone and shock-elicited freezing in the rat.Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 93, 736–744, 1979a.
Fanselow, M. S. and Bolles, R. C.: Triggering of the endorphin analgesic reaction by a cue previously associated with shock: Reversal by naloxone.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 14, 88–90, 1979b.
Hilgard, E. R. and Marquis, D. G.:Conditioning and Learning. New York: Appleton-Century, 1940.
Hirsch, S. M.: Of rats and cats. A laboratory study of rats’ defensive postures. Presented at the meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Seattle, Washington, April, 1977.
Jenkins, H. M. and Moore, B. R.: The form of the auto-shaped response with food or water reinforcers.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 20, 105–181, 1973.
Miller, N. E. and Weiss, J. M.: Effects of the somatic or visceral responses to punishment. In B. A. Campbell and R. M. Church (Eds.):Punishment and Aversive Behavior. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1969.
Myer, J. S.: Some effects of noncontingent aversive stimulation. In F. R. Brush (Ed.):Aversive Conditioning and Learning. New York: Academic Press, 1971.
Pavlov, I. P.:Conditioned Reflexes. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1927.
Pinel, J. P. J. and Treit, D.: Burying as a defensive response in rats.Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 92, 708–712, 1978.
Schull, J.: A conditioned opponent theory of Pavlovian conditioning and habituation. In G. Bower (Ed.):The Psychology of Learning and Motivation. New York: Academic Press, 1979.
Siegel, S.: Evidence from rats that morphine tolerance is a learned response.Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 89, 498–506, 1975.
Siegel, S.: Morphine tolerance acquisition as an associative process.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 3, 1–13, 1977.
Siegel, S. The role of conditioning in drug tolerance and addiction. In J. D. Keehn (Ed.):Psychopathology in Animals. New York: Academic Press, 1979.
Siegel, S., Hinson, R. E., and Krank, M. D.: The role of predrug signals in morphine analgesic tolerance: Support for a Pavlovian conditioning model of tolerance.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 4, 188–196, 1979.
Wall, P. D.: On the relation of injury to pain.Pain, 6, 253–264, 1979.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Supported by National Science Foundation Grant NBS-76-19912.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fanselow, M.S. Conditional and unconditional components of post-shock freezing. Pav. J. Biol. Sci. 15, 177–182 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001163
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001163