This experiment assessed the effect of density of reinforcement (the distribution of food pellets over time) on the instrumental running speed of 48 albino rats. Generally, lower density tended to produce faster run speeds, with magnitude of reward and goal-box detention time held constant. The results are consistent with recent research which showed that consummatory response “consistency” is more important than “vigor” in determining run speed. In addition, 10- and 20-sec. delay of reinforcement produced the slower running speeds typical of delayed reward conditions.
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