An experimental demonstration of induction and reduction of 'anxiety' in laboratory rats

Abstract

The present study deals with the experimental induction of anxiety in rats using the technique of operant conditioning. The situation specific anxiety has been demonstrated through a significant reduction in response rate during the presence of a fear stimulus when the response rate remained high during the same trial if such a stimulus was absent. The administration of a tranquilizer increased the response rate, demonstrating the elimination of anxiety, even when the so called fear stimulus was still present. The study demonstrates that the technique of operant conditioning can be used in anxiety elimination and it has a wider application than in the conventional field of learning alone. The technique can also be used to study the efficaacy of anxiety relieving drugs.