SEPARATION OF SATIATING AND REWARDING CONSEQUENCES OF DRINKING

Barbary doves with chronic oesophageal fistulae were tested in an operant situation to determine the relative roles of oral and alimentary factors in the reinforcement and satiation of drinking behavior. In reinforcement tests subjects transferred from a non-rewarded key to a novel rewarded key, only when reward was presented orally. The failure to transfer for reward delivered via the fistula indicates that alimentary factors do not reinforce this behaviour. In satiation tests rewards were presented simultaneously via the fistula and orally. Satiation depended on the total amount of water ingested, even when different proportions were delivered via the two routes. The results are interpreted in terms of the feedback mechanisms involved in satiation and reinforcement. © 1969.