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Inescapable Aversive Stimulus Decreases Subsequent Escape Responding In Humans: An Investigation Of The Learned Helplessness Effect In A 3d Virtual Environment, Zachary Kilday

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exposure to an inescapable aversive stimulus decreases escape responses to subsequent escapable aversive stimuli. This is known as the learned helplessness effect. In the present experiment, human participants were trained in an immersive, 3D virtual environment analog of an operant chamber using an inescapable aversive stimulus, an escapable aversive stimulus, or no aversive stimulus. Then, all participants were tested using an immersive, 3D virtual environment analog of a shuttle box using an escapable aversive stimulus. Participants trained with an inescapable aversive stimulus were slower to escape during testing than participants trained with an escapable aversive stimulus. The current results demonstrate …