Avoidance Behavior and the Development of Gastroduodenal Ulcers

Observations in our laboratory over the past year or more have revealed the development of extensive gastrointestinal lesions in a series of some 15 monkeys restrained in chairs and subjected to a variety of prolonged behavioral conditioning and/or intracerebral self-stimulation experiments (1). The behavioral studies fo- cused upon emotional conditioning procedures of the "fear" or "anxiety" type, and upon avoidance of noxious electric shocks to the feet. Intracerebral self-stimu- lation through chronically implanted electrodes involved various limbic-system structures. While the program for each animal in this initial series varied con- siderably, all were subjected to intensive experimental study for at least 2 to 8 weeks.