Abstract

KAMENETZKY, Giselle; CUENYA, Lucas  and  MUSTACA, Alba Elisabeth. Correlation between Unconditional Fear and the First Reaction to the Decline and Extinction of an Appetitive Reinforcer. Acta de investigación psicol [online]. 2011, vol.1, n.1, pp.92-107. ISSN 2007-4719.

When rats have access to a 32% sucrose solution and the concentration is decreased to 4%, the animals drink less than those that were always exposed to the 4% solution. This phenomenon is called consummatory Successive Negative Contrast (cSNC) and is considered an animal model of frustration. Existing evidence shows that in a light-dark test, rats prefer to stay in the dark compartment, which suggests an unconditioned fear response to illuminated places. Two experiments were conducted in which the preference of rats in a light-dark test was assessed during a cSNC (Experiment 1) and during a Consummatory Extinction (Ec, access to an empty water tube, Experiment 2) in order to assess the correlation between the first reaction to the devaluation or to the omission of reinforcers with unconditioned fear responses to dark places. Results showed that the rats that spent more time in the dark place spent less time in contact with the water tube during the first reinforcer-devaluation trial (Experiment 1) and during the first minute of the first Ec trial (Experiment 2). The relation of these results and Amsel (1958), Gray (1987), and Flaherty's theories is discussed.

Keywords : Unconditioned fear; Frustration; Individual differences; Rats.

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