EFFECTS OF PREFERENCE ON DISPLACEMENT IN APPROACH-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT

REEXAMINED DISPLACEMENT AS FORMULATED BY E. J. MURRAY AND M. M. BERKUN (SEE 30:3). SIMILARITY TO THE GOAL AND SPATIAL PLACEMENT OF THE ALLEYS WERE MANIPULATED WITH AN ADDITIONAL VARIABLE OF BRIGHTNESS (BLACK) AND TEXTURE (HARDWARE CLOTH FLOOR) PREFERENCE IN 24 SPRAGUE-DAWLEY RATS. SS TRAVELED LEAST DOWN THE WHITE SMOOTH-FLOOR ALLEYS, MIDWAY DOWN THE GREY SCREEN-FLOOR ALLEYS, AND FARTHEST DOWN THE BLACK HARDWARE CLOTH-FLOOR ALLEYS. THIS OCCURRED REGARDLESS OF THE SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE ALLEYS OR THE COLOR OF THE ALLEY IN WHICH SS RECEIVED THE INITIAL APPROACH-AVOIDANCE TRAINING. SS TRAINED IN THE NONPREFERRED (WHITE) ALLEYS TOOK A GREATER NUMBER OF TRIALS TO RECOVER FROM APPROACH-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT THAN SS TRAINED IN THE PREFERRED (BLACK) ALLEYS. THE IMPORTANCE OF A PREFERENCE VARIABLE IN STUDIES OF CONFLICT BEHAVIOR IS STRESSED. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).