Saline as a reinforcer of bar pressing by thirsty rats.

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Abstract
In Exp. I, water-deprived rats trained to bar press for .025-ml water on variable interval (VI) 1 min. were tested with .1-2 M saline reinforcements. Rates decreased as concentration increased; water was more reinforcing than any saline concentration. With continuous reinforcement, responding for water or hypertonic saline declined within sessions, but responding for hypotonic or isotonic saline persisted producing the familiar preference-aversion function. In Exp. II, rats responding for water on VI 1 min. exhibited higher rates than Ss responding for .15 M saline. Varying deprivation altered rates for both groups, but saline was never more reinforcing than water. These findings indicate that the "preference" for saline found in consumption tests is due to failure of saline to satiate thirst. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

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