On the failure of transfer of control from separately conducted Pavlovian conditioning to free-operant avoidance conditioning in rats

In Experiment 1, presentation of a tone previously correlated with foot shock produced an increase in the rate of rats' foot-shock avoidance responding, while presentation of a tone previously correlated with tail shock had no reliable effect on the rate of foot-shock avoidance responding. In Experiment 2, a tone correlated with tail shock elicited heart-rate conditioned responses, but had no reliable effect on the rate of subsequent foot-shock avoidance responding. In Experiment 3, presentation of a tone previously correlated with foot shock, and a tone previously correlated with tail shock in separate groups produced increases in the rate of tail-shock avoidance responding. In Experiment 4, a tone correlated with tail shock in one setting accelerated tail-shock avoidance responding in a second setting. Interaction between US and negative reinforcer modifiability by skeletal responding may contribute to the pattern of results obtained.