Stimulus-Change versus Preference for Light

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Abstract
The classical procedure for demonstrating the reinforcing properties of stimulus-change for rats confounds the response-contingent change with the production of dim illumination. This experiment unconfounded the two by providing a response-contingent visual change without a change in the ambient illumination. This “pure” visual change was not reinforcing, whereas a response-contingent change from darkness to dim illumination—the classical procedure—was unambiguously reinforcing. Thus much research purporting to demonstrate reinforcement in rats by “visual change” can be reinterpreted as demonstrating that dim illumination is preferred over darkness.

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