Abstract
Forty rats were given 42 acquisition and 15 extinction trials in a runway at 1 trial/day. The magnitude of water reward during acquisition was varied across five levels for independent groups (.1, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1, and 4.1 ml). Acquisition response speeds were an inverted-U-shaped function of the magnitude of reward. The results of the extinction phase showed that the rats that received the smallest reward during training showed the greatest persistence during extinction. The extinction performance of the rats that received the larger rewards during training did not differ. The results of both the acquisition and extinction phases were seen as generally consistent with the literature on the magnitude of food reward.
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The authors thank Jean Burdeshaw for running the animals for this experiment.
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Campbell, P.E., Kruger, B.M. Magnitude of water reward in the runway: A parametric investigation. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 14, 165–168 (1979). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329434
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329434