Abstract
Spontaneous alternation phenomena in rhesus monkeys were studied by utilizing a modified WGTA under 23 hr. of food deprivation. Cue conditions, amounts of effortfulness, and qualities of reward were manipulated as experimental variables. Spontaneous alternation above the chance level could not be found in any condition. Animals tended to become fixed their responses over successive trials. Spontaneous fixation of response was retarded under the three conditions; when two identical cues were presented, when cues were presented both during inter- and intra- trial intervals, and when amount of effortfulness was increased.
A hypothesis was proposed that reactive inhibition instigated the animals to seek least effort and thus initiated investigatory and discriminatory activity.
It was emphasized that there were wide individual differences in alternation behavior.
