Two-way avoidance acquisition is negatively related to conditioned freezing and positively associated with startle reactions: A dissection of anxiety and fear in genetically heterogeneous rats

The double, fear-driven “passive avoidance/active avoidance” conflict appearing during acquisition of two-way active avoidance, involves high levels of anxiety and a dominant tendency for freezing responses, which in turn run against the appearance of active escape/avoidance behavior. In the present study, by using a large sample genetically heterogeneous (N/Nih-HS) rats, we have tested the hypothesis […]