Abstract

PATRON ESPINOSA, Felipe de Jesús; ORTEGA GONZALEZ, Mauricio; TORRES CEJA, Carlos de Jesús  and  FLORES AGUIRRE, Carlos Javier. Effects of delayed reinforcement in rats exposed to spatially variable conditions. Rev Arg Cs Comp. [online]. 2018, vol.10, n.2, pp.25-36. ISSN 1852-4206.

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the effects of manipulating the reinforcement delay and the spatial distance between the manipulandum (lever) and the reinforcer (water) on the response maintenance by rats. Four groups were exposed to temporally defined programs, the first response within a 30 seconds cycle produced the reinforcer delivery. The Group 1 was exposed to conditions of increased spatial distance through three phases. Group 2 was exposed to conditions of decreased spatial distance through three phases. The reinforcer was delivered at the end of the cycle (delay). For Groups 3 and 4 the reinforcer was delivered after the first lever press. The results showed that the response rate was an inverse function of increasing the reinforcement delay and the spatial distance between the manipulandum and the light-liquid dispenser set. But, this effect was most pronounced when these variables were combined.

Keywords : spatial distance; reinforcement delay; rats.

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