Abstract
3 rats exposed to the intermittent delivery of food reinforcement developed a pattern of reliable post-pellet licking, i.e., schedule-induced polydipsia. A tone correlated with unavoidable shocks was then superimposed upon this baseline. The rats' licking behavior was suppressed during the tone periods but remained unchanged during the no-tone periods. This suppression of licking was due to a decrease in the mean number of post-pellet licks; the percentage of intervals containing licking remaining relatively constant. When the shock intensity was increased there was a further reduction in licking behavior due to a decrease in the number of intervals containing licks. These results demonstrate that schedule-induced polydipsia can be altered by factors other than those involving the primary schedule.
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