title: Schedule-induced defecation by rats during ratio and interval schedules of food reinforcement.
abstract: Lever pressing in rats was maintained by continuous and intermittent schedules of food while defecation was monitored. In Experiment 1, reinforcement densities were matched across variable-ratio and variable-interval schedules for three pairs of rats. Defecation occurred in all 3 rats on the variable-ratio schedule and in all 3 rats on the yoked variable-interval schedule. In Experiment 2, fixed-ratio and fixed-interval schedules with similar reinforcement densities maintained lever pressing. Defecation occurred in 3 of 4 rats on the fixed-ratio schedule and in 4 of 4 rats on the fixed-interval schedule. Almost no defecation occurred during continuous reinforcement in either experiment. These results demonstrate that defecation may occur during both ratio and interval schedules and that the inter-reinforcement interval is more important than the behavioral requirements of the schedule in generating schedule-induced defecation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu 96822.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Wylie
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Layng
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Meyer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003672:Defecation; D004327:Drinking Behavior; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule