A total of 108 white rats were divided into three groups with different drive levels. The rat was given a daily rewarded run for 20 days and extinguished by the same procedure without reward in a straight runway. Based on time measures,
SER was computed by the use of HULL'S quantification method and empirical equations of
SER as, a function of group median time scores for reinforced trials were fitted. The equations were used for calculating.
SER for individual subjects for the most unstable and most stable periods in learning. Pearsonian
r's between obtained
SER and either of two transformed time measures (reciprocals and logs) were shown to be nearly unity, , indicating the validity of the transformed measures as linear indices of
SER. The same statistic between
SER and raw scores, on the other hand, was relatively low.The log score was slightly superior to the reciprocal.
Inter-individual variability together with intra-individual variability was measured on the assumption that they were proportional and the result supported the assumption.
Main findings on response variability were as follows :
1. A reverse relationship between variability and drive strength was obtained using the log scale. If the animal was assumed to have a relatively constant amount of drive, less hungry rats would be motivated by a greater amount of incidental drives, e. g. exploratory drive. Consequently to-be-conditioned stimuli for those rats would be more complex than for rats under longer food deprivation. No obvious relationship was obtained for the reciprocal scale.
2. Response variability increased as a function of reinforcements using reciprocals; the finding agreed with HULL. The opposite was true for logs. The latter was interpreted that stimuli irrelevant to the primary drive was extinguished to a greater degree with reinforced trials and thus the learning response had become less variable with trials.
3. Response variability increased in extinction as compared with that in acquisition. This was found for both scales. Since the primary drive was not reduced in extinction, stimuli relevant to then-existing drives such as exploratory or frustration drive would control at least some part of the rat's behavior. These stimuli were apparently unstable and not specific, causing variability in response.
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