Experimental self-punishment and superstitious escape behavior

Rats were trained to escape from shock by pressing a bar. Bar holding was subsequently punished with very brief shocks. This treatment failed to depress bar-holding behavior. In some cases, although the escape shocks were delivered very infrequently, bar holding was maintained and resulted in the delivery of several thousand punishments per session. These and other effects of the punishment treatment were investigated. Finally, some of the possibilities of superstitious escape responding were explored by presenting inescapable shocks to rats that had been trained to escape shock by lever pressing. Although responding during these shocks had no programmed consequences, responding was sustained.     

Instrumental escape behavior with extended training

Four groups of nine Ss were run in a straight alley shock situation for 240 trials, 30 per day. Ss received either 180- or 300-V shock and interval intervals (ITI) of 30 or 120 sec. On Day 1 of training, the 300-V groups first started faster than the 180-V groups, but then showed considerable adaptation, resulting in approximately equal performance at the end of Day 1. Over all 8 days, the 180-V group started significantly faster than the 300-V group when a 30-sec ITI was used, but the converse when a 120-sec ITI was used. Over all 8 days, the 300-V groups continued to increase in performance, while the 180-V groups showed a decline after Day 4.     

Effects of escape to alone versus escape to enriched environments on adaptive and aberrant behavior

Escape-maintained aberrant behavior may be influenced by two outcomes: (a) a break from the activity and (b) subsequent access to preferred activities. To assess this hypothesis, a treatment was developed that analyzed response allocation across two break options: break alone and break with access to preferred social activities. The break with preferred activities decreased aberrant behavior and increased appropriate behavior.     

A titration procedure for generating escape behavior

In a grid-shock escape paradigm using time-out as reinforcement, both fixed-ratio and variable-interval performances were established directly from a continuous reinforcement schedule with rats and guinea pigs. A procedure was developed that employed a stepwise decrease in reinforcement time for all responses except the terminal response. Acquisition and long-term maintenance data were obtained from Ss trained on this titrated negative-reinforcement procedure.     

Novel effect of chronic corticosterone treatment on escape behavior in rats

Chronic administration of corticosterone in rats (4-35 mg/kg/day) produces a marked dose-dependent increase in the frequency of escape behavior observed when animals are held by the tail on a flat surface. The effect is fully developed after 3 days treatment. It is not the result of an increase in spontaneous motor activity since the hormone tends to reduce the latter behavior. Adrenalectomy decreases the escape behavior and tends to do so to a greater degree in rats subjected to chronic stress (restraint) than in nonstressed controls. The results suggest that endogenous corticosterone serves to maintain the above escape behavior during chronic stress.     

Learning behavior,escape behavior,and depression in an ulcer susceptible rat strain

The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between depression (helpless withdrawal behavior) and susceptibility to stress ulcer in rats. The WKY genetic strain of rats has been described as highly susceptible to stomach ulcer development during water restraint, i.e., when placed in a jar of water and forced to swim to keep their head above water, a setting in which Richter identified “giving up” behavior akin to hopelessness (Richter, 1957). Since WKY rats tended to float in the water instead of swimming in an attempt to escape, and were also found to be relatively inactive in open field tests, a series of experiments were performed to ascertain whether their diminished activity and their failure to swim reflected slowness, cognitive impairment, or something actually akin to depression. The latter interpretation was supported by evidence from tests of shock avoidance behavior, of capacity to learn discrimination in an operant setting, and by the capacity of an antidepressive drug to lessen floating time in the forced swim test and also to reduce the incidence of stomach ulcers.     

Persistence of response prevention effects following retraining of escape behavior

This study evaluated the effects of response prevention procedures on the extinction of escape behavior following the reinstatement of shock-escape training prior to the start of extinction. Female hooded rats were assigned to four groups (N = 10) in a factorial design which orthogonally combined response prevention or pseudo-prevention procedures with escape retraining or no retraining procedures. Results showed that prevention reliably impaired shock-escape behavior on early retraining trials; but this effect dissipated completely by the end of retraining. In extinction, prevention reliably facilitated the extinction of escape behavior relative to that of pseudo-prevention controls; but the degree of facilitation was reliably attenuated by retraining procedures. These findings were related to the competing response interpretation of prevention effects.     

Learning behavior, escape behavior, and depression in an ulcer susceptible rat strain.

The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between depression (helpless withdrawal behavior) and susceptibility to stress ulcer in rats. The WKY genetic strain of rats has been described as highly susceptible to stomach ulcer development during water restraint, i.e., when placed in a jar of water and forced to swim to keep their head above water, a setting in which Richter identified "giving up" behavior akin to hopelessness (Richter, 1957). Since WKY rats tended to float in the water instead of swimming in an attempt to escape, and were also found to be relatively inactive in open field tests, a series of experiments were performed to ascertain whether their diminished activity and their failure to swim reflected slowness, cognitive impairment, or something actually akin to depression. The latter interpretation was supported by evidence from tests of shock avoidance behavior, of capacity to learn discrimination in an operant setting, and by the capacity of an antidepressive drug to lessen floating time in the forced swim test and also to reduce the incidence of stomach ulcers.     

The effects of differential negative reinforcement of other behavior and noncontingent escape on compliance

The present study evaluated the effects of noncontingent escape and differential negative reinforcement of other behavior in reducing problem behaviors and increasing compliance in 2 children with disabilities. Results showed that both methods reduced problem behavior and increased compliance for both children.     

Treatment of escape-maintained aberrant behavior with escape extinction and predictable routines

We evaluated the effects of two daily activity schedules on 2 participants' rates of aberrant behavior and their compliance. Functional analysis identified the operant function of the participants' aberrant behaviors to be escape from tasks. Participants were taught to use stimuli contained in daily schedules, and were tested based on a modified stimulus-equivalence model that consisted of flash cards and activity schedules comprised of words or photographs that corresponded to the participants' daily activities. On pretests, the participants demonstrated simple and conditional discriminations with the photographs but not with the printed stimuli. A time-delay procedure was used to teach the participants to name the flash cards. Following training, the printed activity schedules corresponded to lower rates of problem behavior and higher rates of compliance than the photographic activity schedules. Performance on posttests indicated the establishment of functional classes of stimuli involving the flash cards and activity schedules even though this type of correspondence was not directly trained.     

A global optimization approach for generating efficient points for multiobjective concave fractional programs

In this article, we present a global optimization approach for generating efficient points for multiobjective concave fractional programming problems. The main work of the approach involves solving an instance of a concave multiplicative fractional program (W̄). Problem (W̄) is a global optimization problem for which no known algorithms are available. Therefore, to render the approach practical, we develop and validate a branch and bound algorithm for globally solving problem (W̄). To illustrate the performance of the global optimization approach, we use it to generate efficient points for a sample multiobjective concave fractional program. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Implementing behavior modification programs with limited consultation time

It may be possible to reduce significantly the amount of consultation time required in applying behavior modification techniques to classroom behavior problems if modifications are made in certain procedures commonly associated with a behavioral approach, including recording frequency data, teaching behavioral principles in individual cases, establishing criteria, and continuing to work with unresponsive cases. Consultation time can also be reduced if techniques for anticipating certain difficulties in implementing behavior programs can be developed, such as establishing that alternative treatment plans are not available, using social and naturalistic reinforcers, anticipating certain predicatable variations in target behaviors, concentrating consultations during the early stages of a behavioral program, and consulting with teachers in small groups.     

Some qualifying notes on the development and implementation of behavior modification programs

Value judgements are inherent in the development and implementation of any behavior modification program. However, there is concern that techniques will become the prime originator of values and that a broader new of the child and his terms will be lost.

This article has reviewed three aspects of program planning in terms of the value issues involved. These include the manipulation of both abtecedent and consequent events to the behavior, the inclusion of the child in program planning, and teacher resistance to the program.     

Transfer of an escape response from tail shock to brain-stimulated attack behavior

Nine cats, each with two hypothalamic electrodes in sites which when stimulated produced either quiet attack or attack accompanied by certain forms of vocalization, were trained to escape from tail shock by jumping onto a stool. They were then tested for transfer of the escape response to brain stimulation. Stimulation of the seven sites that yielded quiet biting attack did not elicit the learned response of jumping onto the stool. Stimulation of eight of the 11 sites that yielded attack accompanied by vocalization did elicit the learned response. It was concluded that attack behavior elicited by brain stimulation should not be considered a special case of the response to aversive stimulation, but that attack and response to aversive stimulation involve independent but overlapping systems.     

Effects of shock source and method of contact upon runway escape behavior

Rats performed better in a shock-escape apparatus with L-shaped metal strips as a runway when a constant-current (CC) shock source was used as compared to a matched impedance source. CC source superiority disappeared when the shock surface was wet (saline solution). Several additional demonstrations strongly suggest that the superiority of the CC source was not related to aversiveness per se but to responses peculiar to particular shock sources.