Avoidance of Timeout From Response‐independent Food: Effects of Delivery Rate and Quality

Abstract

In three experiments, a rat's lever presses could postpone timeouts from food pellets delivered on response-independent schedules. In Experiment 1, the pellets were delivered at variable-time (VT) rates ranging from VT 0.5 to VT 8 min. Experiment 2 replicated the VT 1 min and VT 8 min conditions of Experiment 1 with new subjects. Finally, subjects in Experiment 3 could postpone timeouts from delivery of pellets that differed in quality rather than quantity (unsweetened versus sweetened pellets). In general, response rates and success in avoiding increased as a function of the rate and quality of the pellets. Also, performance efficiency increased as the experiments progressed, that is, the avoidance response occurred later and later in the response-timeout interval. The results support the conclusion that timeout from reinforcement has functional properties similar to those of more commonly studied aversive stimuli (e.g., shock).

Metacognition in Animals

“…Thus, the uncertainty response was indirectly reinforced by increased food rate; application of the Smith et al (2008) model would predict use of the uncertainty response for the intermediate stimuli. Our simulation is consistent with the hypothesis that there are negative affective consequences of time outs, which has been verified through independent approaches (Richardson & Baron, 2008). …”

“…Reducing delay to reward is a reinforcement variable (Carlson, 1970; Kaufman & Baron, 1968; Richardson & Baron, 2008), which could maintain the low-frequency flat threshold for the uncertainty response. To examine the role of delay to reinforcement in these types of experiments we conducted a simulation of reinforcement rate.…”

Behavior modification after inactivation of cerebellar dentate nuclei.

“…In addition to magnitude, other stimulus characteristics such as palatability have been shown to affect response rates. 551 For example, Richardson and Baron (2008) examined animals' lever pressing to avoid a timeout from reinforcement. They found that rats had higher rates of avoidance (from timeout from reinforcement) when reinforced with sweetened pellets than when reinforced with unsweetened pellets.…”

Avoidance of Timeout from Response-Independent Schedules of Food or Sucrose Water with and without a Limited Hold on Consumption

“…Research on the relative aversiveness of timeout from lean and rich schedules of food delivery has yielded discrepant findings. Some research has shown that a lean schedule maintains higher avoidance response rates than a rich schedule (Thomas, 1964(Thomas, , 1965bvan Haaren & Anderson, 1998)-suggesting that timeout from a lean schedule is more aversive than timeout from a rich schedule-while other research has shown the opposite (D'Andrea, 1971;Richardson & Baron, 2008). The present study was based on the notion that the conflicting results may have arisen from differences in procedural details that influenced the effect of the food schedules on behavior that may compete with avoidance.…”

“…In some cases, a rich schedule maintained lower avoidance response rates than a lean schedule (Thomas 1964(Thomas , 1965bvan Haaren & Anderson, 1998). In other cases, a rich schedule maintained higher response rates (D'Andrea, 1971;Richardson & Baron, 2008).…”