Abstract
Three groups of rats received food pellets in the first phase of the experiment. Members of the contingent group received the pellets contingent upon their nose-poke responses. Subjects in the noncontingent group, yoked to members of the contingent group, received pellets whenever their yoked contingent animal nose-poked, but independent of the noncontingent animal’s behavior. Members of the control group received the same numbers of pellets in their home cages 50 min later. In the second phase, the three groups learned a leverpress response with food reinforcement. Two of the three dependent measures showed a detrimental effect of the first-phase experience on leverpressing performance for the noncontingent group, compared with the contingent and control groups, which did not differ from each other. It was concluded that an appetitive learned helplessness effect has been demonstrated.
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Oakes, W.F., Rosenblum, J.L. & Fox, P.E. “Manna from heaven”: The effect of noncontingent appetitive reinforcers on learning in rats. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 19, 123–126 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330059
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03330059