Abstract
Six groups of rats were trained by feeding paired with different combinations of light and buzzer stimuli. The test was learning to run in a straight runway for the buzzer, light, or food in the goalbox. The group running for buzzer and light stimuli, which reliably preceded feeding, performed as well as the group receiving food. The learning of a new response different from the training response supports an association model of secondary reward rather than a cognitive model. Other groups demonstrated that secondary reinforcement was more a function of the information value of a stimulus than of contiguity.
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Jonsson, J.E., Friedman, H. & Johnston, R.A. Secondary reinforcement measured with unrelated responses in training and testing. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 22, 359–361 (1984). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333843
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333843