Shifts in the psychophysical function in rats

• Published in: Behavioural processes Vol. 75; no. 2; pp. 167 - 175
• Main Authors: Guilhardi, Paulo, MacInnis, Mika L.M., Church, Russell M., Machado, Armando
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 01.06.2007; Elsevier
• Subjects: Algorithms; Animal ethology; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Columbidae; Conditioning, Operant - physiology; Discrimination Learning - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Male; Pigeons; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics - methods; Psychophysical function; Psychophysics - methods; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Reinforcement Schedule; Secondary data analysis; Temporal bisection; Time Factors; Time Perception - physiology; Timing; Secondary data analysis; Rats; Timing; Psychophysical function; Temporal bisection; Pigeons; Data analysis; Rat; Columba livia; Rodentia; Psychophysics; Pigeon; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Animal; Aves
• ISSN: 0376-6357; 1872-8308
• DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2007.02.002

The primary goal was to compare results from a free-operant procedure with pigeons [Machado, A., Guilhardi, P., 2000. Shifts in the psychometric function and their implications for models of timing. J. Exp. Anal. Behav. 74, 25–54, Experiment 2] with new results obtained with rats. The secondary goal was to compare the results of both experiments with dependent variables that were not used in the original publication. As in the original study with pigeons, rats were trained on a two-alternative free-operant psychophysical procedure in which left lever press responses were reinforced during the first and second quarters of a 60-s trial, and right lever press responses were reinforced during the third and fourth quarters of the trial. The quarters were reinforced according to four independent variable interval (VI) schedules of reinforcement. The VI duration was manipulated in each quarter, and shifts in the psychophysical functions that relate response rate with time since trial onset were measured. The results obtained with rats were consistent with those previously obtained with pigeons. In addition, results not originally reported were also consistent between rats and pigeons, and provided insights into the perception, memory, and decision processes in Scalar Expectancy Theory and Learning-to-Time Theory.