Resumo

GEHM, Tauane P.. Early learning involving aversive stimuli: Initial considerations. Acta comport. [online]. 2011, vol.19, n.4, pp. 33-45. ISSN 0188-8145.

From a radical behaviorist perspective, this article had as objective to look into the early learnings that involve aversive stimuli, selecting and analyzing an experimental literature facing answer two questions: (1) When do the early learnings involving aversive stimuli start?; and (2) How are these learnings? In order to do that, we analyzed experimental studies with different species that looked into learning that occurred in prenatal period and during first days after birth. We indicate evidences that learning begin before birth: the direct observation of fetus rats suggests that the formation of respondent relations with aversive stimuli already within 19 days of gestation in rats (Smotherman & Robinson, 1985); the induction of aversive association during gestation produces the non-choice of the conditioned stimuli (CS) after birth (Gruest, Richer, & Hars, 2004); and the prenatal exposition to stimuli which are normally avoided in early days of life increases the preference for these in the post-birth period, altering its function (Sneddon, Hadden, & Hepper, 1998). We also highlight the importance of attachment in the early days after birth, collecting data that indicate the neutralization of some aversive associations' formation, aversive associations that could harm the bond between the caregiver and the younglet in periods in which such attachment is crucial for the infant's survival: aversive association formation using milk as CS only happens before the 20 first days if the milk is not obtained by the suction of a female lactating rat's nipple (Martin & Alberts, 1979); and the association of neutral stimuli to electric shocks in rats' early days of life increases the preference for such stimuli (Roth & Sullivan, 2005). One of the possible explanations is that if the aversive association occurred with the same ease in the early days of life as they occur in adult age, the mother could become an aversive conditioned stimulus for having behaviors such as biting and kicking the younglets. Nevertheless, the neutralization of some aversive association in early life can facilitate the attachment, and its maintenance, to the caregiver. Therefore, we suggest that considering birth as the beginning of a history of learning with aversive stimuli is a misconception. In addition, the unconditioned aversive characteristic of certain stimuli cannot be justified by the presence of the aversive quality already in birth, since its function may have been altered by experiences prior to parturition. Being learning a cumulative phenomenon, considering prenatal period could count in comprehension of complex behaviors that arise and/or last from the contact with aversive stimuli.

Palavras-chave : prenatal learning; early leanings; aversive stimuli; attachment; ontogeny; phylogeny.

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