Disruption of a temporal discrimination under response-independent shock.

Scientists trained rats to press a lever only after a set time had passed.

Then they gave random electric shocks that the rat could not avoid.

They watched if the shocks hurt the rat’s sense of timing, not just how much it pressed.

The shocks cut the number of presses and also made the rat’s timing sloppy.

Even when the rat still pressed, it no longer waited the right length.

Blackman (1970) got the same result: a shock warning spoiled A-to-B lever chains and shortened the pauses.

Garcia et al. (1973) went further and showed the warning also broke a counting chain, proving the harm reaches complex tasks.

Kruper (1968) seems to disagree: monkeys under mild shock pressed less but still picked the correct picture. The task and species differ, so mild shock may only slow you down without wrecking your eye for the cue.

McIntire et al. (1987) stretched the idea across whole sessions: just putting avoidance training next door later made normal fixed-interval timing fall apart.

If you use aversives or work where they happen, know they can blur time rules and chains, not just cut rate. Check timing accuracy, not only how often the client responds. When you must deliver bad news or unavoidable events, add clear signals and keep the timing task simple; it may protect the stimulus control you spent weeks building.