Abstract
One group of rats was raised normally on a diet of dry pellets, and another group was raised almost completely on a liquid diet of Metrecal, in order to control the amounts of reinforced time spent eating and drinking in each group, hence producing different incentive values for eating and drinking. Both groups were then trained to turn left in a T-maze for dry food and right for water. After 60 h of simultaneous hunger and thirst deprivation, free choice test trials were given. Normally raised rats always turned toward food, but rats raised on Metrecal turned toward food and water about equally often. The results are explained by the different incentive values for eating and drinking produced by the different diets.
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This article is based on an experiment conducted as an M.A. thesis by the first author under supervision of the second author.
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Thompson, R.J., Leonard, T.B. Effects of raising rats on a liquid or solid diet on response choice made with hunger and thirst simultaneously operative. Psychon Sci 14, 9–10 (1969). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336397
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336397