Abstract
Preexposure to unsignaled food presentation retards the subsequent acquisition of stimulus-directed responding in autoshaping procedures. We hypothesized that this effect might be a direct function of the extent to which subjects engage in food-tray directed behavior during preexposure. To investigate this notion, unsignaled food presentation was made contingent upon high levels of food-tray directed behavior during preexposure for one group of subjects. For another group of subjects, food presentation during preexposure was contingent upon the occurrence of behavior other than food-tray directed activities. The subjects were then exposed to an autoshaping procedure, in which response-independent food presentations were preceded by the insertion of a response lever into the experimental chamber. Both male and female rats were exposed to these experimental procedures. The subjects that had engaged in high levels of food-tray directed behavior during preexposure exhibited low levels of stimulus-directed behavior during autoshaping, and vice versa. Sex differences were also observed. Males showed more stimulus-directed responding during autoshaping than did females, with no differential effects of preexposure experience.
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This research was conducted while Annemieke van Hest was supported by a grant from the Dutch Organization for the Advancement of Basic Research (NWO 560-258-024) awarded to Frans van Haaren.
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Van Hest, A., Van Haaren, F. & Van De Poll, N.E. Preexposure to unsignaled food: Autoshaping retardation following differential conditioning of food-tray directed behavior. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 27, 351–354 (1989). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334625
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334625