4 white rats were given training in avoiding shocks by pressing a bar. Shocks were scheduled to occur after different release-signal (S1) and S1-shock intervals. When these intervals totalled 125 sec. no bar-holding occurred; when they totalled 20 sec. bar-holding was almost continuous; when they totalled 60 sec. intermediate amounts of bar-holding were emitted by 3 animals. Once acquired, bar-holding was maintained according to the interval from bar-release to impending shock; circumstances of its acquisition were obscured by qualitative characteristics of response topography.
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