title: Pigeons shift their preference toward locations of food that take more effort to obtain.
abstract: Although animals typically prefer to exert less effort rather than more effort to obtain food, the present research shows that requiring greater effort to obtain food at a particular location appears to increase the value of that location. In Experiment 1, pigeons' initial preference for one feeder was significantly reduced by requiring 1 peck to obtain food from that feeder and requiring 30 pecks to obtain food from the other feeder. In Experiment 2, a similar decrease in preference was not found when pigeons received reinforcement from both feeders independently of the amount of effort required. These results are consistent with the within-trial contrast effect proposed by in which the relative hedonic value of a reward depends on the state of the animal immediately prior to the reward. The greater the improvement from that prior state the greater the value of the reinforcer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Friedrich
authors.forename: Thomas R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Zentall
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002755:Choice Behavior; D010856:Columbidae; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005082:Physical Exertion; D012201:Reward