EFFECTS OF HANDLING AND CONTEXT PREEXPOSURE ON THE IMMEDIATE SHOCK DEFICIT

The immediate shock deficit refers to the failure of a shock to become associated with contextual stimuli when the shock is presented simult aneously with the rat's placement in a context. The basic procedure co nsists of a presentation of the shock as soon as the animal is placed in an observation chamber. Handling of the animal, which immediately p recedes the shock, and the novelty of the chamber in which the immedia te shock is delivered are potential variables that might be responsibl e for this associative deficit. In Experiment 1, handling reduced cont ext conditioning but was not responsible for the immediate shock defic it. Experiment 2 revealed that the novelty of the chamber was not a si gnificant factor. These results discount the possibility that handling and the novelty of the chamber are responsible for the deficit produc ed by the immediate shock. It is suggested that immediate shock could be employed as a control procedure for the study of context conditioni ng.