Abstract
Food-deprived golden hamsters in a large enclosure received food every 30 sec contingent on lever pressing, or free while their behavior was continuously recorded in terms of an exhaustive classification of motor patterns. As with other species in other situations, behavior became organized into two main classes. One (terminal behaviors) increased in probability throughout interfood intervals; the other (interim behaviors) peaked earlier in interfood intervals. Which class an activity belonged to was independent of whether food was contingent on lever pressing. When food was omitted on some of the intervals (thwarting), the terminal activities began sooner in the next interval, and different interim activities changed in different ways. The interim activities did not appear to be schedule-induced in the usual sense. Rather, the hamsters left the area of the feeder when food was not due and engaged in activities they would normally perform in the experimental environment.
Keywords: fixed-interval schedule, fixed-time schedule, schedule-induced behavior, interim activities, terminal activities, lever press, hamsters
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Falk J. L. The nature and determinants of adjunctive behavior. Physiol Behav. 1971 May;6(5):577–588. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(71)90209-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Schneider B. A. A two-state analysis of fixed-interval responding in the pigeon. J Exp Anal Behav. 1969 Sep;12(5):677–687. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1969.12-677. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Wasserman E. A., Franklin S. R., Hearst E. Pavlovian appetitive contingencies and approach versus withdrawal to conditioned stimuli in pigeons. J Comp Physiol Psychol. 1974 Apr;86(4):616–627. doi: 10.1037/h0036171. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]