Free operant avoidance in rats under increased nitrogen pressures.
Rats performed on a free operant avoidance schedule with a response-shock interval of 20 sec. and a shock-shock interval of 2 sec. Avoidance response rates increased and shock frequency decreased when the rats were exposed to elevated pressures of both air and a nitrogen-oxygen mixture in a hyperbaric chamber. Increases in response rates were related to raised partial pressures of nitrogen at 89.0 psi and 111.3 psi. Conditional probabilities of interresponse times indicated that increases in response rates were not due to disruption of temporal discrimination. Increased avoidance rates under pressure suggested direct excitatory effects of high pressures of nitrogen.
D000818:Animals; D001274:Atmospheric Pressure; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D004597:Electroshock; D006931:Hyperbaric Oxygenation; D008297:Male; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010313:Partial Pressure; D051381:Rats; D011930:Reaction Time; D013997:Time Factors; D013998:Time Perception / Q000187:drug effects
D009584:Nitrogen