Changes in heart rate associated with responses based on positive and negative reinforcement.

Abstract

Cats were trained to press the appropriate bar for food or to avoid shock, using 2 tones as CSs; heart rate (HR) increased during the food CS and decreased during the shock CS. These HR responses to tone were not found outside of the experimental situation. The effects of reserpine were to reduce the HR response to the food CS, and to diminish the bar-press response to the shock CS. "Either reserpine . . . interrupts whatever mechanism intervenes between the heart and the skeletal musculature, or . . . classically conditioned changes in HR do not mediate instrumental avodiance responses." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)