Abstract
Goldfish, run in a Y-maze, with the simultaneous presentation of a cue associated with shock and a second cue associated with safety (no US), acquired a decided preference for the safe cue. These data are interpreted as representing a clear demonstration of stimulus-specific conditioned avoidance. Because earlier research has been challenged by unusual control performances, this instrumental learning conclusion is hesitantly drawn.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Scobie, S. R., & Fallon, D. Operant and Pavlovian control of a defensive shuttle response in goldfish (Carassius auratus). Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1974, 86, 858–866.
Steiner, G. Stimulus control of avoidance learning in fish. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1971, 74, 52–58.
Woodard, W. T., & Bitterman, M. E. Classical conditioning of goldfish in the shuttlebox. Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation, 1971, 3, 193–194.
Woodard, W. T., & Bitterman, M. E. Pavlovian analysis of avoidance conditioning in the goldfish (Carassius auratus). Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1973, 82, 123–129.
Zerbolio, D. J., & Wickstra, L. L. Goldfish avoidance acquisition: Is the process classical, instrumental, or phototaxis? Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1978, 11, 321–323. (a)
Zerbolio, D. J., & Wickstra, L. L. Does elimination of a negative phototaxis eliminate CAR acquisition in goldfish? Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1978, 11, 324–326. (b)
Zerbolio, D. J., & Wickstra, L. L. Passive avoidance in goldfish: Lack of evidence for stimulus specificity. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1978, 12, 15–17. (c)
Zerbolio, D. J., & Wickstra, L. L. Discriminated response patterning in goldfish with successive presentation and explicitly unpaired pseudoconditioning procedures. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1979, 13, 307–310.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zerbolio, D.J., Wickstra, L.L. Instrumentally based conditioned avoidance response acquisition in goldfish in a simultaneous presentation task. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 13, 311–313 (1979). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336880
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336880