Abstract
Four experiments assessed the effects of trial (T) and intertrial (I) durations on magazine approach behavior in rats. In Experiments 1 and 2, different groups of animals were conditioned with various combinations of I and T durations. The rate of acquisition, in terms of the number of trials required to reach various acquisition criteria, generally was faster in groups trained with large I:T ratios. There also were differences in rate of acquisition and terminal response rates between groups trained with identical I:T ratios but with different absolute I and T durations. Differences evident at the end of conditioning persisted during a common test with various combinations of I and T durations. Experiments 3 and 4 provided a more specific test of the predictions of 2 general classes of theories and found results that were consistent with those theories that characterize group differences as indicative of differences in learning, rather than in performance.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 433-450 |
Number of pages | 18 |
Journal | Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes |
Volume | 25 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 1999 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology