ACQUISITION OF ACTIVE-AVOIDANCE RESPONSE DEPENDS ON SOLVING THE CONFLICT SITUATION INHERENT TO THE 2-WAY SHUTTLE BOX PROBLEM

The two-way avoidance procedure dramatically differs from the one-way procedure in rate of learning. The present study was conducted to prov e that retardation of the two-way avoidance acquisition resulted from development of the behavioral conflict tendency not to reenter the pre vious shock compartment. Cluster analysis of avoidance response icdice s divided rats into three distinctive classes. The occurrence of avoid ance, escape, and freezing responses in the first session was analyzed in these three groups. Freezing during the shock action reflected the conflict tendency and showed a negative correlation with avoidance re sponse indices; Only the rats which overcomed the conflict and perform ed at least one avoidance reaction toward the end of the first session significantly improved their avoidance score in the following session . Discriminant analysis of indices of the three reaction types in the first session revealed sufficiency of these indices for prediction of the success in avoidance learning in subsequent sessions. Our results proved the hypothesis formulated previously that the conflict situatio n inherent to the two-way shuttle box procedure retarded the active av oidance acquisition, A number of trials have to be reserved in the fir st session for solving the conflict situation (direct effect on the ra te of learning). The conflict intensity which directly effects the avo idance performance in the first session, presumably, influences learni ng in subsequent sessions (secondary effect on learning).