Which of these is a description of conditioned suppression?

An attempt was made with 20 adult male human subjects to produce the behavioral disruption demonstrated in animals and called conditioned suppression or the conditioned emotional response (CER). Various intensities of ac and dc electric shock were used, including maximum intensities which would maintain subjects' attendance at sessions. The preaversive stimuli and the shock were imposed upon lever pressing behavior maintained on VI Schedules of reinforcement and on FI-LH schedules. Animal research suggests that these schedules are highly sensitive to the CER effect. Parameters of the preaversive stimulus such as loudness, duration, and average interstimulus interval were selected which maximize the likelihood of obtaining suppressive effects with animals. No conditioned suppression was obtained. Until further clarification of the status of the CER in humans is available, attempts to describe human behavior in terms of “conditioned anxiety”, viewed as analogous to the CER in animals, appears unwarranted.

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Conditioned suppression is a procedure that leads to a decrease in operant behavior while the conditioned aversive is present. It is measured by comparing the rates of behavior with and without the presence of the conditioned aversive (i.e., using a suppression ratio).

A neutral stimulus is presented in appropriate temporal-spatial proximity to an unconditioned aversive stimulus (e.g., shock), during which the neutral stimulus becomes conditioned stimulus. Following this Pavlovian conditioning, ongoing operant behaviors decrease when the conditioned stimulus is presented.

It has been used in a number of situations and is especially useful for studying the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear.

1Reprints may be obtained from H. Davis, Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. This research was supported, in part, by a Foundation grant from California State College, Los Angeles.

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Abstract

Three food-deprived Long-Evans rats were exposed to a non-discriminated shock avoidance procedure. Superimposed upon this operant avoidance baseline were periodic presentations of a conditioned stimulus that was paired with food, the unconditioned stimulus. These pairings resulted in increases in the rate of shock over that recorded when the conditioned stimulus was not present. A traditional suppression ratio failed to reveal any differential effect of the conditioned stimulus on the overall rate of avoidance responding, although all subjects showed a consistent pattern of pausing and postshock response bursts during presentations of the conditioned stimulus. When food was withheld during a final extinction phase, the conditioned stimulus ceased to occasion increases in shock rates and disruptive postshock response bursts were eliminated. An analysis of conditioned suppression procedures is proposed that stresses not only operant-Pavlovian or appetitive-aversive incompatibility, but also the manner in which the baseline schedule of reinforcement affects operant behavior changes that are elicited by the superimposed Pavlovian procedure.

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1Dedicated to B. F. Skinner in his sixty-fifth year. This investigation was supported by the Mental Health Fund of the Illinois Department of Mental Health. Rebecca Oxford performed the electrode implantation and histology as well as conducting that part of the study concerned with the “Food-ICS” rats. Jean Brown assisted in the electrode implantation and histology. Reprints may be obtained from either author, Anna State Hospital, Anna, Illinois 62906.

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Abstract

Research has revealed the phenomenon of conditioned suppression in which the rate of responding is reduced during a stimulus that is paired with noncontingent shock. The present study replicated this procedure, but used noncontingent positive reinforcers instead of the aversive shock. The lever-pressing responses of rats were reinforced with food or water. While the rats were responding, a stimulus was occasionally presented and paired with the delivery of a noncontingent positive reinforcer, which was either food, water, or brain stimulation for different rats. The result was a reduction in the rate of responding during the conditioned stimulus. This finding shows that conditioned suppression occurs during a signal for reinforcing as well as aversive stimuli.

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