ラットの罰事態における反応頻度と反応持続時間の負の相関性

抄録

In order to investigate whether the response duration covaries with varying of the response rate, we trained four rats to press each of two levers on a variety of concurrent variable-interval schedules of reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement condition consisted of five schedules of reinforcement using food. When the response rates fell within a given range on each of reinforcemcnt schedule, a punishment schedule using an electric shock was added to that reinforcement schedule. Five different schedules combining reinforcement and punishment comprised the punishment condition. We employed the local response rate which refers to the number of responses per minute on each lever, and the response duration which refers to the mean duration that rat pressed down the lever.
The results indicated that only in the punishment condition, the response duration negaitively correlated with the response rate. These results implied that the response rate alone does not entirely describe the response strength in the punshment condition. We further discussed validity of the suppression ratio. We suggest that both temporal behavioral measures and traditional response rates are necessary for precise description of the behavioral suppression.