EFFECTS OF PUNISHMENT OF A RESPONSE CLASS USING DIFFERENT INTENSITIES AND DIMENSIONS OF THE HOT AIR BLAST

Abstract

The Hot Air Blast (HAB) procedure has been used successfully as a punishing event. However, HABis a compound stimulus with multiple potentially aversive dimensions (sound, air pressure, heat generateddirectly by the stimulus, and the heat produced in the experimental environment) and it is not yet knownwhich is critical as a punisher. Furthermore, previous studies used a single intensity of stimulus. The presentstudy had two main objectives: to identify the properties of HAB that function as a punisher (Experiment 1) and intensities at which it would be effective (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, nine rats, divided into three groups, were exposed to different dimensions of HAB: Sound Group, Sound + Pressure Group and Sound + Pressure + Hot Group. The results indicated that the suppression of operant responding occurred only when the dimension Hot was included with Sound + Pressure. In Experiment 2, nine rats, divided into three groups, were exposed to three different intensities of the composite HAB stimulus: Null Intensity Group, Minimum Intensity Group and Maximum Intensity Group. Only the maximum intensity produced consistent high levels of response suppression.Key words: Hot Air Blast, aversive control, punishment, rats.