Effects of task-irrelevant cues and reinforcement delay on choice-escape learning following inescapable shock: evidence for a deficit in selective attention.
Prior exposure to inescapable shock has been reported to interfere with choice-escape learning, but several investigators have failed to obtain this effect. A series of five experiments examined the conditions under which choice-escape learning in an automated Y-maze is impaired by pretreatment with inescapable shock. Inescapably shocked rats made more errors and responded more slowly than did controls only when shock termination was delayed and task-irrelevant cues were present during choice-escape training. These findings are discussed in terms of information processing and neurochemical consequences of exposure to inescapable shock.
D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003463:Cues; D004597:Electroshock; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011930:Reaction Time; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012149:Restraint, Physical