Reinforcement and the organization of behavior in golden hamsters: Pavlovian conditioning with food and shock unconditioned stimuli.

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Abstract
The effects of Pavlovian conditioned stimuli (CSs) for food or shock on a variety of behaviors of golden hamsters [Mesocricetus auratus] were observed. The aim was to see whether previously reported differences among the behaviors produced by food reinforcement and punishment procedures could be accounted for by differential effects of Pavlovian conditioning on the behaviors. There was some correspondence between the behaviors observed to the CSs and the previously reported effects of instrumental training. The Pavlovian conditioned responses (CRs) alone would not have predicted the effects of instrumental training. CRs depended to some extent on the context in which training and testing occurred. The resluts of Pavlovian conditioning procedures may not unambiguously predict what system of behaviors will be most readily modified by instrumental training with a given reinforcer.