Reinforcing brain stimulation in competition with water reward and shock avoidance.
Employing response rate as the index of reinforcing strength in self-stimulation experiments is questioned. With water reward or shock avoidance placed in competition with brain stimulation, self-stimulation rate does not reflect relative reinforcement value. The results agree with preference tests which show that, for a given electrode site, stimulus intensity, not rate, is directly related to reward strength.
D001921:Brain; D007858:Learning; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012201:Reward; D012653:Self Stimulation; D012919:Social Behavior; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D014867:Water
D014867:Water
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