An Attempt to Establish a Secondary Drive Based upon a Primary Appetitional Drive

Abstract

Sixteen 150-day-old male albino rats were trained over a 30-day period. They experienced 15 14-hr. periods of food deprivation in a unique environment consisting of a striped box with sandpaper floor and blinking overhead lighting. During testing Ss ate significantly less during and after exposure to the distinctive cues. Although the results failed to demonstrate the establishment of the predicted secondary motivator, the experimental manipulations had an obvious effect on Ss' eating behavior. It was suggested that, when cues are associated with a strong drive state which is never reduced in the presence of the cues, these cues acquire a noxious quality which produces a type of avoidance behavior incompatible with eating.