Interference Effects in Acquisition of Avoidance Behaviors by Rats

Abstract

Four groups of rats were given avoidance training either in a Skinner box with a light CS (Groups 1 and 2) or in a shuttlebox with a tone or a light CS (Groups 3 and 4). This was followed by avoidance training in either a shuttlebox with a tone or a light CS (Groups 1 and 2, respectively) or a Skinner box with a light CS (Groups 3 and 4). Shuttlebox-avoidance training with either a visual or an auditory CS interfered with subsequent lever-press avoidance with a visual CS. Lever-press avoidance with a visual CS interfered with shuttlebox avoidance with an auditory CS but had little effect on subsequent shuttlebox avoidance with a visual CS. These results are in marked contrast with those of Ayres, Benedict, Glackenmeyer, and Mathews (1974) who found interference effects across response systems only in unsignalled situations.