In the classical conditioning experiment by Robert Rescorla that involved two groups of rats, one group of rats heard a tone just before each of 20 shocks. The second group of rats experienced the same 20 tone-shock pairings, but also experienced an additional 20 shocks that were not paired with a tone. How did the two groups differ?

Question

Biology

Cynthia Mcclain

10 December, 18:09

In the classical conditioning experiment by Robert Rescorla that involved two groups of rats, one group of rats heard a tone just before each of 20 shocks. The second group of rats experienced the same 20 tone-shock pairings, but also experienced an additional 20 shocks that were not paired with a tone. How did the two groups differ?

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Salvador Nicholson · Answer 1

Rats in the first group will produce a strong stimulus i. e fear of shock towards the tone as compared to the rats in the second group.

Explanation:

Rats in the first group were conditioned to sense the fear with the tone played just before each shock while on the other hand rats in the second group will be exposed to both unconditioned (without tone) and conditioned (with tone) shock treatment.

Therefore, the rats in the first group will produce a strong stimulus i. e fear of shock towards the tone (as they hear it) as compared to the rats in the second group.