Retardation of extinction of an escape response by prolonged, intense goal box shock

Studied the effects of intense, response-contingent goal box shock on the extinction of a runway-escape response in 40 male albino rats by means of a 2 × 2 factorial design in which presence vs absence of goal box shock during escape training was crossed with the same factor during extinction. Of the 2 groups trained with shock in the goal box, the 1 shocked there during extinction exhibited dramatically enhanced resistance to extinction. The group not punished there extinguished more rapidly than any of the other 4 groups. The remaining 2 groups responded at levels between these 2 groups but did not differ from each other. Results are discussed in terms of various learning-theory mechanisms, such as conditioned fear and stimulus generalization, and with emphasis on similarities between the procedures of the present study and those extant "alley-shock" and "goal-shock" self-punitive designs. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)