Characteristics of behavior associated with alternative choice in a Y maze in rats and their interpretation in terms of complex probability amplitudes.

This report demonstrates the possibility of interpreting rat behavior in situations associated with the choice between "safe" locations in a Y maze using pain reinforcement on the basis of summation rules for complex amplitude probabilities characterizing the prognostic assessment by the rat that it will achieve relative safety. Functionally incomplete actions in rat behavior were analyzed in the experimental situation. When the rat needed to avoid pain reinforcement and both pathways to avoid painful stimulation were equally suitable, interference could appear in the animal's assessment of the suitability of the two paths, this preventing decision-making. When this occurred, there was a delay in the executive action. After rats left one of the "safe" arms, they could move into the other "safe" arm, and vice versa. These transfers were completed in a quasi-periodic fashion, as predicted by a formal description of transfers between coincident (or sufficiently similar) states.