In a recent study, Kohn (5) compared the immediate effect on hunger drive in albino rats of (a) 14 cc. enriched milk injected directly into the stomach, (6) 14 cc. enriched milk taken normally by mouth, and (c) a control injection of 14 cc. of isotonic saline. For his measure of hunger, Kohn used the rate of performing a response (pushing a little panel) reinforced periodically with food. The advantage of this procedure was that only negligible amounts of food were given in the course of taking the measure. Response rate immediately after the milk injection was lower than after the saline injection, and was still lower after milk drunk by mouth. This suggests (a) that the presence of the milk in the stomach produced a prompt reduction in hunger, and ( 6) the stimuli involved in drinking the milk produced an additional prompt reduction in hunger, As Kohn pointed out, such conclusions have implications not only for the study of satiation, but also for a drive-reduction theory of reinforcement. However, the generality of these conclusions depends, as he clearly indicates, on the validity of his measure of hunger. Certainly the readiness to perform work instrumental to getting food is one aspect of what is commonly meant by the strength of hunger drive. The amount of food consumed is another aspect. But a study by Miller, Bailey, and Stevenson (6) indicates that under some conditions these two measures fail to agree. Therefore, it seemed desirable to repeat Kohn's experiment to see if the same results would be obtained with a consummatory response (amount of milk drunk) substituted for the instrumental response as a measure of hunger.
PROCEDUREThe subjects, thirteen male albino rats of the Sprague-Dawley strain, aged 100 to 160 days, were run in four successive squads. Plastic fistulas were sewn into their stomachs according to the procedure described by Kohn (5).The measure of hunger was the amount of milk drunk during a 10-min. test period from a glass tube, inside diameter 4 mm. but slightly constricted at the end by fire-polishing, which was inserted into each animal's living cage. The tube delivered milk from a 50-cc. pipette graduated in 0.2-cc. steps. Animals seldom drank for more than 3 to 4 min., after which they tended to lie down and go to sleep. Each animal was used as its own control and always drank from the same tube. So that a distinctive stimulus situation, equal for all animals, would always immediately precede the test, each rat was placed on an elevated perch, 3 in. by 6 in., for % min. just before being returned to its cage for the test.Prefeeding. Ten minutes before this drinking test, animals were prefed by one of the 3 methods whose effect was to be measured, namely, (a) 14 cc. of isotonic saline injected via fistula directly into the stomach (known as stomach saline), (6) 14 cc. of milk injected via