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In a previous study (4) it was found that a solution of saccharin in water was an effective reward for instrumental learning despite its failure to provide nourishment or reduce hunger (1). The results were interpreted as indicating that elicitation of a strong consummatory response was a more critical feature of rewards than subsequent drive reduction. The purpose of the present research was to examine this interpretation further by comparing the reinforcing value of solutions in which nourishment, sweetness, and prior experience were varied independently. In one experiment, solutions of dextrose were used with and without the addition of saccharin to increase "artificially" the consummatory behavior. In a second experiment, animals were given prior experience with dextrose solutions to permit any reinforcing effects of nourishment to strengthen the consummatory response itself. The measure of strength of the consummatory response in both experiments was amount of solution ingested in 4-min. periods of confinement in a goal box; the measure of strength of the instrumental response was running speed in a runway that led to the goal box. EXPERIMENT I: REWARD VALUE OF DEXTROSE WITH AND WITHOUT ADDED SACCHARIN MethodSubjects and apparatus. The Ss were 24 male albino rats, about 100 days old and of the Sprague-Dawley strain from the Charles River Breeding Laboratories, Brookline, Massachusetts. The basic apparatus consisted of a modification of a 4-ft. runway described in detail elsewhere (5). Its essential features were a starting box with a hinged floor, a runway terminating in a short uphill hurdle, a goal box with a hinged floor, and guillotine doors at each box to prevent retracing. The weight of the animal on the two floors operated microswitches which controlled a Springfield Timer that measured the animal's response time from leaving the starting box to entering the goal box. The end of the

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The transition of research in the area of small-group behavior from survey techniques to the more precise laboratory investigations has resulted in a shift in emphasis to group processes and a relative disinterest in analyzing the tasks which govern behavior. "The major purpose of the present report is to propose a paradigm that may be useful in preliminary attempts to isolate and define important group-task characteristics."