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In the present experiment one group of rats was trained to escape from the black compartment to the white compartment of a shuttlebox and another group was trained to escape from the white compartment to the black compartment using a modification of the usual acquired fear procedure. There was no difference between the two groups on preshock trials, or on acquisition trials. The only reliable differences were in extinction latencies and trials to extinction; the white to black group had shorter latencies of escape in extinction and took nearly twice as many trials to extinguish, indicating that the association between white and fear and black and safety in the usual acquired fear study may not be entirely acquired. According to Miller (1948, 1951), fear can be acquired as a response to a previously neutral stimulus. Once acquired, this fear can act as a drive and motivate the learning of a new response. In Miller's (1948) experiment, rats were shocked in the white compartment of a two-compartment shuttlebox and allowed to escape to the black compartment. Mter the shock trials, shock was omitted and the animals continued to run. Next, the conditions were changed so that the door separating the two compartments could be opened if the rat turned a wheel in the white compartment. The rats learned to operate the wheel to escape from the white compartment without further shocks. Presumably, the white compartment elicited internal fear cues and when the rat escaped, the fear was reduced; therefore, the response was learned and maintained. |
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