Secondary reinforcement strength and primary reinforcement schedule.

Abstract
27 rats were trained in a Skinner box, 1 stimulus being paired with food reinforcement on a CRF and another stimulus, on an FR-5 schedule. For secondary reinforcement testing 2 levers replaced the 1 of training, and food reinforcement was omitted. Pressing one lever produced the stimulus previously associated with reinforcement under the FR-5 schedule; pressing the other lever, the CRF-associated stimulus. For each of the 4 test days, the mean number of choices per trial of the lever producing the CRF-associated stimulus was significantly greater than on Test Trial 1 (p <.001), indicating that the CRF-associated stimulus had greater secondary reinforcement strength. A 2nd experiment with number of reinforcements equated yielded similar results.

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