ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the secondary effects of aversive control and describes how these may be functionally related to aversive control procedures. The concept of aversive control connotes the application of aversive stimuli in a manner such that its consequences affect performance. By the very nature of aversive stimulation, vigorous attempts by subjects to escape or avoid full or direct stimulus contact is likely. The muscles controlling the eccentric and concentric occlusal patterns contract, i.e., biting occurs, during both the presentation of aversive stimuli and subsequent to the withdrawal of positive reinforcers. If aversive stimuli are repeatedly delivered in a discriminable temporal pattern a display of aggression-attack reactions assumes additional features. The behavioral sequences which occur both before and after aversive stimulation may vary even when stimulus parameters are held constant. Operant conditioning procedures involving aversive control may be divided into the response-produced-stimulus-offset and response-produced-stimulus-onset paradigms.
