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Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Training in Rats

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Published on: February 4, 2016

Effect of reward probability on spatial and temporal variation.

W David Stahlman¹, Seth Roberts, Aaron P Blaisdell

¹Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563, USA.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes

|February 10, 2010

Summary

Reducing reward expectation increases response variability in pigeons, particularly in peck location and timing, but not form. This finding extends previous research on animal behavior and learning.

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Area of Science:

Behavioral neuroscience
Animal cognition
Comparative psychology

Background:

Previous research suggested that lowering reward expectations increases response form variation.
The current study investigates if this principle extends to other response dimensions like location and timing.

Purpose of the Study:

To test the hypothesis that reduced reward expectation increases response variation.
To examine the effects on response location and timing in pigeons.
To compare findings with existing datasets from rat studies.

Main Methods:

Two discrete-trial experiments were conducted with pigeons pecking colored circles for food.
Each color was associated with a unique probability of reward.
Response form (peck duration), location (horizontal variation), and timing (interpeck-interval variation) were measured.

Main Results:

Reducing reward expectation did not alter peck duration (response form).
However, it significantly increased horizontal variation in peck location.
Interpeck-interval variation also increased, with a clearer effect on the standard deviation than the mean.

Conclusions:

The findings partially support the original hypothesis, showing increased variation in response location and timing, but not form.
The results suggest that reward expectation influences different aspects of motor behavior distinctly.
Similar interresponse-interval effects were observed in rat datasets, indicating potential cross-species generalizability.