Response prevention (flooding) in rats: The effects of restricting exploration during flooding and of massed vs distributed flooding

Conducted 2 experiments with 33 and 60 female hooded rats to determine ways of decreasing or increasing the efficacy of response prevention (flooding). In Exp. I, Ss were trained to avoid electric shock and following learning some groups were given the response-prevention treatment. (Response prevention consisted of thwarting the avoidance response while forcing Ss to remain in the presence of the feared stimuli.) Mechanically confining the Ss during response prevention (interfering with the occurrence of spontaneous exploration and locomotion) decreased the efficacy of the treatment in leading to extinction of the avoidance response. In Exp. II, Ss were trained to avoid intense shock and then were given response prevention in either 1 single, long-duration session or in several shorter sessions distributed over days (massed vs. distributed flooding). Results indicate that distributed response prevention was more effective than massed response prevention. (French summary)