IS INSTRUMENTAL RESPONDING NECESSARY FOR NONREWARD FOLLOWING REWARD TO BE FRUSTRATING

Following 60 reinforced placement trials (6/day), an experimental group was given 12 nonreinforced placement trials (6/day) paired with a light (CS), followed by hurdle-jump training to escape the cues paired with nonreward. Ss were 32 male hooded rats. The hurdle-jump response was learned and performance reached a level well above a control group which received zero pellets throughout the experiment. This result was taken to indicate that conditioning of reward expectancy and of frustration resulting from subsequent nonreward can occur independent of a prior instrumental response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.