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Three Laboratory Procedures for Assessing Different Manifestations of Impulsivity in Rats

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Published on: March 17, 2019

Distributed versus exclusive preference in discrete-trial choice.

James E Mazur¹

¹Psychology Department, Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT 06515, USA. mazurj1@southernct.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes

|July 28, 2010

Summary

Pigeons often exclusively prefer the better option in discrete-trial choice tasks. Distributed preference occurs when factors like reinforcer delay or similar outcomes compete for control, not from sampling tendencies.

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A Within-Subject Experimental Design using an Object Location Task in Rats

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Area of Science:

Behavioral science
Animal cognition
Operant conditioning

Background:

Understanding choice behavior is crucial in behavioral science.
Discrete-trial choice involves selecting between alternatives within a set time frame.
Pigeons are frequently used models for studying choice behavior.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate conditions promoting exclusive vs. distributed preference in pigeons.
To evaluate existing theories of discrete-trial choice.
To determine factors influencing choice between alternatives with varying reinforcer characteristics.

Main Methods:

Two experiments using pigeons were conducted on discrete-trial choice.
Experiment 1 manipulated delays to food reward (fixed and variable).
Experiment 2 manipulated probabilities of food reward, with random key location variation.

Main Results:

Exclusive preference for the better alternative was observed in some conditions.
Distributed preference occurred in other conditions, particularly when key location varied randomly.
Results challenge theories based on inherent sampling or matching tendencies.

Conclusions:

Exclusive preference is a common outcome in discrete-trial choice.
Distributed preference arises from competing factors or discriminability issues, not sampling.
Choice behavior is sensitive to reinforcer characteristics and contextual variables.