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Motivating operations as contexts for operant discrimination training and testing.
Melanie Stites1, Matthew Lewon1, Christina M Peters1
1University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Psychology, MS 296, 1664 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV 89557, USA.
Behavioural Processes
|November 17, 2022
Summary
Mice trained under different food deprivation levels learned discriminations equally well. However, their later test performance depended on the deprivation level during training, showing motivational state-dependent learning.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Motivating operations (MOs) influence behavior by altering the reinforcing effectiveness of stimuli.
- Understanding MO interactions is crucial for explaining learning and performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how motivational states during initial training affect subsequent discrimination performance.
- To examine the interaction between training and testing motivational conditions.
Main Methods:
- Two groups of mice underwent stimulus discrimination training under either 24-h or 0-h food deprivation.
- Response-outcome contingencies were equated across groups during training.
- Both groups were tested under both 24-h and 0-h food deprivation conditions.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in discrimination ratios were observed between groups.
- Mice trained under 24-h deprivation showed higher response rates during the 24-h deprivation test.
- Mice trained under 0-h deprivation showed higher response rates during the 0-h deprivation test.
Conclusions:
- Learning during discrimination training is influenced by the prevailing motivational state.
- Performance on learned discriminations is sensitive to the motivational state at the time of testing.
- These findings support the concept of motivational state-dependent learning.
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