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Abstract

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of contextual preexposure on the freezing of rats. 45 albino rats were first placed in an experimental chamber for 5 min. without electric shock (contextual preexposure) for a few days (0, 3, 5, 10, or 15 days). Then they received a shock (1 mA, 2 sec.) for 6 consecutive days. After receiving one shock, the rats which had been contextually preexposed for some days froze more frequently than the rats which had not experienced contextual preexposure. The contextual preexposure facilitated the conditional freezing of rats following one-trial context-shock conditioning; however, there were no differences in freezing between them after receiving more than two shocks. It seems that a few conditioning trials overcame the facilitating effect of contextual preexposure.

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Facilitation Effect of Contextual Preexposure on the Freezing of Rats

Abstract

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References