Effect of Avoidance-Avoidance Conflict on Magnitude of Startle: Reduced Fear during Conflict

Abstract

The present study used 13 male, hooded rats in a within-subjects design to test the hypothesis that a modified avoidance-avoidance conflict situation in a discrimination learning task would evoke a more intense auditory startle reaction than would the absence of such conflict. The presumed mechanism was an increase in drive or arousal, as a consequence of the conflict, resulting in greater startle. The findings were inconsistent with the hypothesis; the startle reactions of animals in a conflict situation were not different from those of animals in a non-conflict situation.