EFFECT OF DIFFERENCES IN REWARD MAGNITUDE WITH CORRELATED CUES ON RUNNING SPEED

Tested certain implications of Perkins' preparatory response hypothesis. In Exp. I, 24 naive male Sprague-Dawley rats received 9 small- and 1 large-reward trial/day with reward-correlated alley and goal-box but not start-box, colors. 2 control groups were employed: 1 received a color change but not reward change on 10% of the trials; and the other received 10 sec. of reward-correlated start-box cues. Results supported the prediction that slower running would obtain on large-reward trials. In Exp. II, 10, 30, 50, 70, and 90% large-reward groups were employed. 40 naive male Sprague-Dawley rats ran more slowly for the less frequently occurring reward regardless of its magnitude. Results are interpreted in terms of the preparatory response viewed as a reinforcement maximizer. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.