Figure 5.
Effects of selective devaluation. In the training phase of this study, rats learned to perform a task (lever press or chain pull) to obtain a reward (food pellet or starch, in a counterbalanced design). Before testing, animals were selectively satiated with one of the two foods (devaluation). They were then tested in extinction. Thus their performance, measured in actions per minute (y-axis), dropped over time (x-axis) for either food. Critically, the performance for the devalued food (filled symbols) was consistently below that for the control food (empty symbols). Adapted from Balleine and Dickinson (1998), Neuropharmacology (Elsevier, with permission).