Counterconditioning, Hierarchy, and CS Exposure in Extinction of Human Avoidance Responding

Eight groups of subjects were trained to make a button-press avoidance response and were then given 15 treatment trials before being tested for extinction. Subjects in the Flooding group were exposed to the 2000-Hz tone (CS) for 20.0 sec. irrespective of their responding. In six other groups subjects were treated according to a 2 × 3 design. They were either exposed to the original CS (CS groups) or a hierarchy of tone stimuli leading to the CS (Graded CS groups). Subjects were asked either to imagine nothing (CS-only and Graded CS-only), imagine neutral events (CS-neutral and Graded CS-neutral), or imagine pleasant events (CS-pleasant and Graded CS-pleasant). A Yoked-flooding group in which CS durations were identical to the CS durations in the CS-pleasant group was also tested. Testing during extinction showed that avoidance responding was most resistant to extinction in the CS-only, Graded CS-only, and Neutral groups and least in the Flooding group. The Pleasant groups showed quicker extinction than the Neutral, CS-only, and Graded CS-only groups. The CS-pleasant group was quicker to extinguish than the Yoked-flooding group. Although flooding was the most effective procedure, the results showed that not all the effects of response competition, through imagination of pleasant experiences, could be explained through the CS-exposure hypothesis.

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Pavlovian processes and response competition as determinants of avoidance response-prevention effects

Learning and Motivation ◽

10.1016/0023-9690(82)90032-7 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 113-134 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Philip J Bersh ◽

Wayne G Whitehouse ◽

Benjamin C Mauro

Keyword(s):

Avoidance Response ◽

Response Competition ◽

Response Prevention

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Extinction of Human Avoidance as a Function of Durations of CS Exposure during Flooding

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1980.46.3c.1311 ◽

1980 ◽

Vol 46 (3_suppl) ◽

pp. 1311-1319 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jagdish K. Dua

Keyword(s):

Avoidance Response ◽

Button Press ◽

Control Group ◽

Exposure Control ◽

Control Groups ◽

Response Testing ◽

Variable Group ◽

Predetermined Time

Seven groups of subjects learned an avoidance response (CS-UCS interval = 4.5 sec.) and were then given different treatments of flooding. The 0-sec., 3-sec., 10-sec., and 20-sec. groups were administered the CS for 0, 3, 10, and 20 sec., respectively, on each of the 15 trials. The 10-sec.-variable group was exposed to different durations of CS on 15 trials such that the average exposure per trial was 10 sec. The 3-sec.-exposure-control group was exposed to the CS for 3 sec. on each of the 50 trials. All these groups could make the button-press avoidance response during treatment but the response had no effect on the CS. The CS was offset after the predetermined time. A CS-only group was given 15 trials during which it could terminate the CS by making the button-press avoidance response. Testing during extinction showed that the CS-only, 0-sec., and 3-sec. groups were more difficult to extinguish than the 10-sec. and 20-sec. groups. There was no difference between the 3-sec. and 3-sec.-exposure-control groups. The 10-sec. group showed quicker extinction compared to the 10-sec.-variable and 3-sec.-exposure-control groups. It is argued that flooding is effective when the duration of CS exposure per trial is greater than the CS-UCS interval.

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