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The effect of response cost on
rats' sensitivity to the response-reinforcer feedback function. Mariane Soh and Phil Reed University College London, UK Three experiments examined the effect of response cost on rats' sensitivities to molar and molecular strategies of learning on two types of reinforcement schedules. Response cost was manipulated by changing the weight of the lever in the operant chamber; a heavy lever indicated high response cost, and a light lever indicated low response cost. Experiment 1 investigated if response cost made rats sensitive to the molar contingencies on variable ratio (VR), and variable-interval-plus-linear feedback (VI+) schedules. Experiment 2 replicated the former study using a larger response cost. In Experiment 3, the number of responses per reinforcer were equated across the VR and VI+ schedules. The results will be discussed in relation to the conditions under which rats' performance is governed by the molar or molecular characteristics of the operative schedule of reinforcement. Keywords: molar and molecular properties, schedules of reinforcement, variable-ratio, variable-interval-with-linear-feedback, rats |
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