Abstract
Two experiments are reported in which rats traversed a straight runway in the presence of odor cues from startbox-placed odor-donor rats. Experiment 1 investigated the importance of odor-donor and run-subject odor redundancy in determining appropriate start- and run-measure double-alternation patterning in the runway-trained animals. Patterning failed to develop when odor-donor and run-subject reinforcement schedules (i.e., odors) were inversely related (Phase 1), but was shown when the donor schedule was shifted to coincide with that of the run animals (Phase 2). The daily sequence of reward and nonreward events was randomized in Experiment 2. As patterning developed in all measures when donors were present and was selectively eliminated in the start and run measures when the donors were removed, it would appear that a fixed trial sequence is not a crucial factor in the production and utilization of these odor cues.
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Eslinger, P. J., & Ludvigson, H. W. Do constraints exist on discriminative use of odors resulting from reward and nonreward in the rat? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, San Antonio, November 1978.
References
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This research was supported by a Tower Fund research grant from Austin Peay State University to the rust author, and a faculty research grant from Middle Tennessee State University to the second author.
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Davis, S.F., Prytula, R.E. & Voorhees, J.W. Odor-donor cue control of runway performance: A further examination. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 13, 141–144 (1979). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335038
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335038