Abstract
Learning of a spatial discrimination in a T-maze with long delayed reward has been demonstrated by means of a procedure in which the rat is removed after a response to spend the delay in its home cage and later is returned to the T-maze for reward. This procedure was derived from Revusky’s (1971, in press) concurrent interference theory of long delay learning. According to this theory, the usual decrement in learning with a delay of reward is the result of concurrent interference produced when the response and/or reward become involved in extraneous associations with delay events. Removal of the rat to spend the delay outside of the T-maze minimizes concurrent interferences by reducing the associability of the delay events with respect to the events that occur inside the T-maze such as the response and the reward. The present experiments were concerned with a corollary of this theory: If events occurring in the home cage are not readily associated with events occurring in the T-maze, then a reward should be less effective when administered in the home cage than when administered in the T-maze. It was found that learning is retarded when reward is given in the home cage; however, reward given in the home cage as much as 2 min after a response produces learning.
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This research was supported by National Research Council of Canada Grant A8270. I am grateful to S. Revusky for reading this paper and to A. Dawe for technical assistance.
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Lett, B.T. Long delay learning in the T-maze: Effect of reward given in the home cage. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 10, 211–214 (1977). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329327
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329327