A rat chamber and electrode procedure for avoidance conditioning.
A 1967 rat chamber swaps floor grids for flat plates to give safer, cleaner shocks in avoidance work.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors built a new rat box for shock experiments.
It uses flat metal plates on the floor instead of metal bars.
Wires run under the plates to give exact shocks without foot-grids.
They say this cuts noise and gives cleaner data.
What they found
The paper shows drawings and wiring.
No new behavior data are given.
The rig is ready for future avoidance tests.
How this fits with other research
DARDANO et al. (1964) also built 1960s gear, but for food trays.
Both teams wanted gear that ran without the tech touching the animal.
Schwartz et al. (1971) later used auto gear to shape rat key-presses fast.
Their success shows the trend started by H et al. pays off: solid hardware first, then quick learning.
Why it matters
If you run lab studies with aversive control, clean shock delivery still matters.
Modern chambers still use floor grids, but surface plates can cut foot injuries and give even current.
Try drawing the 1967 plate layout when you next service your rig.
Less animal pain means fewer confounds and smoother IACUC reviews.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A method was developed for studying the reactions of rats to aversive shock. The distinctive features were the design of the chamber and a method of restraint that allowed the use of surface electrodes to deliver the shock. Advantages of this method were: (1) accurate specification of the shock actually received by the rat; (2) elimination of all unauthorized escape or avoidance reactions; (3) elimination of the shock scramblers and floor grids required with foot-shock; and, (4) rapid acquisition of performance under various avoidance procedures and various frequencies of shock delivery.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1967 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1967.10-291