Abstract
Mice from four inbred strains and a heterogeneous line were first reduced to 90% of theirad libitum body weight and were then trained to press a bar to obtain food pellets. After 9 days of training with a continuous schedule of reinforcement (CRF), mice were required to discriminate between conditions of reward and nonreward as indicated by a tone and a light; discrimination training continued for 21 days. Considerable genetic variation was apparent for asymptotic pressing rates under CRF as well as discrimination performance. However, the highest discrimination ratios were achieved by mice with the lowest pressing rates. Results are discussed in terms of associative and nonassociative processes which may contribute to genetic variation in performance on learning tasks.
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This research was supported in part by NIGMS grant GM-14547 to the Institute for Behavioral Genetics University of Colorado.
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Paden, B., Wahlsten, D. & DeFries, J.C. Operant discrimination learning and operant bar-pressing rates in inbred and heterogeneous laboratory mice. Behav Genet 4, 383–393 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066158
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066158