Running speed as a function of successive reversals in hunger drive level.

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Abstract
Two groups of rats were trained in a straight runway under conditions of "High" and "Low" hunger. At the end of 10 trials the deprivation conditions were reversed, and the animals run for 10 trials at the new drive levels. This procedure of reversing the drive levels after every 10 trials was carried out four times, for a total of 50 trials. During the first 10 trials the animals running under High drive, as would be expected, learned to run much faster than those running under Low drive. When the motivational conditions are reversed, however, the same result did not appear; animals now under high drive do not run much faster than those under Low drive conditions. When the drive levels were reversed again, returning each group to its original drive condition, the differences in running speed between the High and Low groups reappeared. This same pattern of results was found for all four reversal conditions. These findings were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that animals may acquire different, competing responses at different motivational levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

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