Changes in performance as a function of shifts in the magnitude of reinforcement.

Abstract

Three groups of rats were magazine-trained on either 4%, 11.3%, or 32% concentrations of sucrose solutions. All groups were than bar-press (B-P) trained on 11.3%. The 4% group was significantly superior to the 11.3% and the 32% significantly inferior for the 10 days of rewarded B-P and the four days of extinction. The consequences of these results for the motivational and habit interpretations of reward were discussed. It was argued that the effects which have led to these interpretations can be subsumed under the phenomena observed in determinations of psychological scales.".