The effects of the quality and probability of reinforcement on feeder selection by lobectomized dogs

The role of the prefrontal cortex was studied in an active selection situation in which dogs had to choose one of two feeders, with changes in the quality and probability of the reinforcement provided in one of the feeders. The study was performed in two stages. Before surgery, animals were trained to place themselves on a start area during the interstimulus interval. Dogs were presented with a conditioned stimulus for investigation of the sequence of selection of feeders with identical reinforcements. After bilateral extirpation of the prefrontal areas (the proreal gyrus), dogs continuously ran from one feeder to the other during the interstimulus period. In response to the conditioned stimulus, the animals repeated the reaction of selecting the same feeder on many occasions during the first few (7-9) days. When there was a conflict between the probability and quality of reinforcement, the dogs came to prefer the feeder with the greater reinforcement quality despite its lower probability of presentation. In our experiments, operated animals presented with food at probabilities of 30% and 100% performed feeder selections with different probabilities. One of the functions of the prefrontal cortex in intact animals would appear to be to support the reaction of selecting the greater probability of reinforcement.