The effect of context change on conditioned defensive burying in rats

Adult male albino rats were tested for conditioned defensive burying behavior following two daily sessions (1 h/day) of preexposure to the test chamber with the shock prod absent. Subjects preexposed with the houselight and fan off (context change) exhibited less burying when tested with the houselight and fan on than did subjects preexposed and tested with the houselight and fan on (context constant). It was concluded that burying behavior is sensitive to contextual control, in that simple chamber preexposure is not sufficient for burying behavior to emerge but, rather, preexposure to the context in which testing will take place must occur.