Performance in differential conditioning as a function of variation in magnitude of reward.

Abstract

4 groups of rats designated Groups 10-0, 10-1, 10-5, and 5-1 were run in a differential conditioning experiment. The numerals refer to the number of food pellets (W-sub(g)) associated with the 2 discriminanda (white and black alleys). Ss ran 75 trials to each alley. Differentiation within an S occurred in groups rewarded in both alleys much as it did in Ss given no reward on 1 of the discriminanda. Rate of differentiation was positively related to differences in W-sub(g) Comparison between groups showed that the function relating asymptotic response speeds for both large-and small-reward discriminanda was a negatively accelerated increasing one. Also, the finding that response speeds based on a given reward magnitude were the same whether it was the larger or the smaller of the 2 rewards implies that asymptotic performance is determined by the absolute magnitude of the reward and not by some other factor(s) based on contrast or relative effects, e.g., frustration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)