Response Patterning in the Operant-Conditioning Situation with Twenty-Four-Hour Intertrial Interval

Abstract

16 female, albino rats served as Ss in an investigation of performance on single and double-alternation sequences of reward-nonreward. Ss were run in an operant conditioning chamber with a 24-hr. intenrial interval. The results indicated that Ss receiving the single-alternation reward-nonreward sequence learned to respond appropriately, i.e., fast on reward days, slow on nonreward days, while Ss run under the double-alternation sequence did not exhibit appropriate responding. The results are seen as being supportive of Capaldi's sequential hypothesis.