Conditioning & Learning Phenomena
After joining the ND faculty, I was given research space in the departmental animal facility. Along with my colleague and former mentor, Chris Anderson, we investigated some basic learning phenomena like fear conditioning, avoidance learning, and the so-called "learned helplessness" phenomenon.
Also, I developed separate lines of animal learning research focused on (a) the ways in which stimuli associated with reward acquire unique signaling power over directed movements and (b) how Pavlovian conditioning processes may play a role in the development of tolerance to alcohol.
Unfortunately, due to a need for space to accommodate new social and cognitive programs in our department, a decision was made in the mid-80's to close our animal facility. This decision clearly contributed to my diverse research profile because it effectively terminated my work with animal subjects and forced me to shift the focus of my primary research in other directions.
My published work in the area of animal learning is listed below.
Crowell, C. R. and Anderson, D. C. (1972). Variations in intensity, interstimulus interval, and interval between pre-conditioning CS exposures and conditioning with rats. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 79, 291-298.
Crowell, C. R., Brown, J. S., and Lewis, R. W. (1972). Self-punitive behavior in the rat during successive-discrimination "extinction" trials. Psychonomic Science, 27, 131-135.
Crowell, C. R. (1974). Conditioned-aversive aspects of electric shock. Learning and Motivation, 5, 209-220.
Crowell, C. R. (1974). The role of shock-induced emotionality in the reinforcing effects of response-contingent shock-rate reduction. Dissertation Abstracts, 34, 46-47.
Brown, J. S., and Crowell, C. R. (1974). Alcohol and conflict resolution: A theoretical analysis. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 35, 66-85.
Crowell, C. R. (1974). Shock-frequency reduction and avoidance behavior in a running wheel. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 3, 395-397.
Eaton, N. K., Crowell, C. R., and Brown, J. S. (1974.) Acquisition and extinction of runway performance under escape, avoidance, and partial-avoidance procedures. Animal Learning & Behavior, 2, 193-297.
Anderson, D. C., Crowell, C. R., Koehn, D., and Lupo, J. V. (1976). Different intensities of unsignalled inescapable shock treatments as determinants of non-shock motivated upon open field behavior: A resolution of disparate results. Physiology and Behavior, 17, 391-394.
Eaton, N. K., and Crowell, C. R. (1977). Two-way self-punitive locomotor behavior. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 9, 73-76.
Crowell, C. R. and Brown, J. S. (1977). The psychology of conflict. In B. Wolman (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology. New York: Aesculapius Publishers.
Anderson, D. C., Crowell, C. R., Lupo, J. V., and Sarmina, T. (1978). The effects of sex and exposure to inescapable shock on shock-elicited fighting in albino rats. Physiological Psychology, 5 445-448.
Crowell, C. R., Lupo, J. V., Cunningham, C. L., & Anderson, D. C. (1977). Temporal form of shock is a determinant of magnitude of interference with escape-avoidance learning produced by exposure to inescapable shock. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 12, 407-410.
Crowell, C. R., & Bernhardt, T. (1979). The feature-positive effect and sign-tracking behavior during discrimination learning in the rat. Animal Learning & Behavior, 5, 313-317.
Anderson, D. C., Crowell, C. R., Cunningham, C. L., & Lupo, J. V. (1979). Behavior during shock as a determinant of the magnitude of interference with escape-avoidance learning in the rat. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes, 5, 243-257.
Crowell, C. R., & Anderson, D. C. (1979). The effects of a passive-escape procedure on activity during shock and subsequent interference with escape-avoidance learning in the rat: A replication. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 14, 413-416.
Anderson, D. C., Crowell, C. R., Wikoff, M. B., & Lupo, J. V. (1980). Activity during prior shock determines subsequent shock-elicited fighting in the rat. Animal Learning & Behavior, 8, 664-672.
Crowell, C. R., and Anderson, D. C. (1981). Influence of duration and number of inescapable shocks on intrashock activity and subsequent interference effects. Animal Learning & Behavior, 9, 28-37.
Crowell, C. R., Hinson, R., & Siegel, S. (1981). The role of conditional drug responses in tolerance to the hypothermic effects of ethanol. Psychopharmacology, 73, 51-54.
Crowell, C. R. and Moskal, P. (1981). On the manifestation of stimulus-directed behavior in the rat. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 17, 41-44.
Anderson, D. C., Crowell, C. R., & Brown, J. S. (1982). Retardation of extinction of an escape response by prolonged intense goal-box shock. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 96, 184-191.
Anderson, D. C., Crowell, C. R., & Brown, J. S. (1985). Startle potentiation and heart rate as affected by fear and hunger. Psychological Reports, 56, 95-109.
Anderson, D. C., Crowell, C. R., & Siroky, L. (1985). Activity, startle magnitude, and prolonged food and water deprivation: Two failures to duplicate. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 23, 423-426.
Anderson, D. C., Crowell, C. R., Boyd, N., & Hantula, D. (1995) Fixed-duration shock treatment: Pre- and post-treatment stimulation, activity, and skin resistance as predictors of escape performance. Psychobiology, 23, 329-344.
Anderson, D. C., Crowell, C. R., DePaul, M., & McEachin, J. (1997). Intensification of punishment effects through exposure to brief, fixed-duration shocks: The role of shock cues as a stimulus for fear. Animal Learning & Behavior, 25, 68-83.