Drive interaction: I. Learning as a function of the simultaneous presence of the hunger and thirst drives.

Abstract

An initial experiment with 32 albino rats showed retardation of learning in a single choice T-maze when a 22-hour hunger drive was coexistent with a 22-hour thirst drive. Therefore, a more elaborate experiment was designed employing 125 rats in a modified Skinner box. Subjects were all motivated by a 22-hour hunger drive but were divided into 5 subgroups with varying co-existent thirst drives of 0, 3, 6, 12, and 22 hours' duration. Following the acquisition trials, the 5 groups were extinguished under the same motivational conditions as had existed during training. Results showed that varying degrees of thirst had a differential effect upon response measures, response scores increasing with increase in duration of water deprivation up to 12 hours, but decreasing greatly for the 22-hour interval. Theoretical implications are discussed in terms of Hull's formulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)