Schedule-induced polydipsia and aggression in rats

Hymowitz, Norman

doi:10.3758/bf03336088

Cited by 14 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…It is therefore tempting to suppose that scheduleinduced wood-chewing is aggressive in nature, and certainly our rats grappled with the wood and gnawed it in an extraordinarily vigorous manner. However, some caution is necessary on this point, because attempts to obtain schedule-induced aggression against a conspecific target in rats have so far proved unsuccessful (Gentry & Schaeffer, 1969;Hymowitz, 1971;Knutson & Schrader, 1975 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Schedule-induced wood-chewing in rats and its dependence on body weight

Roper

Crossland

1982

Animal Learning & Behavior

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In Experiment I, 12 rats were exposed to an FT 60 schedule of food reinforcement, followed either by extinction or by a massed-food control condition, in the presence of a wood block. In 9 rats, wood-chewing behavior increased systematically during the FT 60 condition and declined again during extinction or massed food, while the other 3 rats showed virtually no chewing behavior at any stage of the experiment. In Experiment 2, frequency and bout duration of wood-ehewing under an FT 60 schedule of food reinforcement declined as body weight increased, in 7 rats. We conclude that wood-chewing qualifies as a schedule-induced behavior, and that it resembles schedule-induced drinking in its dependence on body weight. Unlike drinking, however, induced chewing occupied the middle region of the 60-sec interreinforcement interval, declined markedly within the session, and showed considerable within-and between-subject variability. Falk (1961) found that when rats were allowed to obtain food according to an intermittent (VI 60-sec) schedule of food reinforcement, and were given concurrent free access to a water bottle, they developed the habit of drinking immediately after eating each food pellet. Because the rats' cumulative intake of water under these circumstances was abnormally large, Falk referred to the postpellet drinking as "schedule-induced polydipsia." Schedule-induced polydipsia has been extensively studied in the subsequent two decades, but its cause remains obscure: numerous explanations have been offered, but none has proved satisfactory (see reviews by Falk, 1971;Segal, 1972;Staddon, 1977).Explanations of schedule-induced drinking have been of two distinct types, which may be termed "thirst" explanations and "general activation" explanations, respectively (Roper, 1980b). "Thirst" explanations hold that intermittent presentation of food exerts a specific facilitatory effect on drinking, for example by stimulating oral dehydration receptors (Stein, 1964)or by causing a fall in blood glucose level (Freed, Zec, & Mendelson, 1977). "General activation" explanations, on the other hand, hold that intermittent presentation of food exerts a more or less general facilitatory effect on nonfeeding behaviors, via a state or process termed frustration (e.g., Thomka & Rosellini, 1975), arousal (e.g., Killeen, 1975; Brett & Levine, 1979), general motor excitability (Wayner, 1974), or stress (e.g., Wallace & Singer, 1976).At present most investigators seem to favor a gen- eral activation account, on the grounds that schedule induction extends across a variety of species, reinforcers, and behaviors. But whether one regards induction as a general phenomenon depends on the stringency of one's definition. The term "scheduleinduced" is commonly applied to any activity that occurs during interreinforcement intervals, regardless of its frequency of occurrence, whereas a stringent demonstration of induction requires that the behavior in question be shown to occur more frequently in association with a schedule of reinforcement than ...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Schedule-induced wood-chewing in rats and its dependence on body weight

Roper

Crossland

1982

Animal Learning & Behavior

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“…These results are consistent with the findings of others that schedule-induced polydipsia in pigeons (cf. Miller & Gollub, 1974;Whalen & Wilkie, 1977) and attack as studied in rats (Gentry & Schaeffer, 1969;Hymowitz, 1971) are not highly probable types of behavior for those species. In other studies, attack and timeout production, have frequently been generated in pigeons.…”

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Mirror Pecking and Timeout Under a Multiple Fixed‐ratio Schedule of Food Delivery

Ator

1980

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Pigeons were trained to peck a key under a multiple fixed-ratio 25 fixed-ratio 175 schedule of food presentation. In the first condition, either a mirror or the opportunity to produce a 30-second timeout were available. In a second condition, mirror and timeout availability were reversed for the two groups. Following a return to the initial condition, mirror and timeout keys were presented together for all birds. Mirror and timeout responses occurred predominantly in the pause in the larger fixed-ratio component, regardless of whether the opportunities for the two responses were available singly or together. Mirror responding occurred in a greater proportion of the pauses than did timeouts. When the opportunities for both mirror pecking and timeout were available concurrently, they occurred with probabilities similar to those under the single conditions. Within the pause itself, mirror responses most frequently occurred immediately after reinforcement. Timeouts occurred most frequently toward the end of the pause, and some timeouts occurred in the early part of the run. Longer preratio pausing occurred in the larger fixed-ratio component in the conditions in which the mirror was present, whether or not any mirror pecks were recorded.

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“…For example, neither pigeons (Carlisle, Shanab, & Simpson, 1972) nor rats (King, 1974) engage in schedule-induced eating when water is presented intermittently. Further, rats do not engage in scheduleinduced aggression when food is intermittently presented (Hymowitz, 1971; but see Knutson & Schrader, 1975). The defining characteristic of SIP which originally generated research interest was the excessiveness of the quantity of water consumed when food was intermittently scheduled.…”

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confidence: 99%

Schedule control of eating by fixed-time schedules of water presentation

Wetherington

Brownstein

1979

Animal Learning & Behavior

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Eating was measured in water-deprived rats when water was presented at regular intervals ranging from 30 to 240 sec. The temporal patterning of eating resembled that of scheduleinduced behavior in that the probability of eating was high early in the interval and declined in the end of the interval. Additionally, (al the number of pellets consumed was controlled by relative time in the interwater interval, (b) the pellets consumed per water presentation was inversely related to water rate, and (c] food-ingestion rate was directly related to water rate. These relationships parallel those found with behavior regarded as schedule induced.Since Falk's (1961) report of schedule-induced polydipsia (SIP) in rats barpressing on a variableinterval (VI) I-min schedule of food reinforcement, much research has been devoted to extending the generality of schedule-induced phenomena. Specifically, research has addressed generality with respect to four major parameters: the induced behavior, the inducing schedule, the inducing event, and the experimental species.Research has now established generality with respect to each of these parameters. First, scheduleinduced behavior is not restricted to water consumption. A wide variety of behaviors can be induced by food schedules, for example, attack, escape, pica, alcohol ingestion, and air licking. Second, within a range of interfood intervals, most intermittent food schedules, with or without a response requirement, will generate schedule-induced behavior. Third, schedule-induced behavior has been reported not only in rats, but in pigeons, chickens, monkeys, and mice (see reviews by Falk, 1971;Staddon, 1977). Finally, schedule-induced behavior is produced not only by schedules of food, but also by schedules of water (King, 1974) and running-wheel availability (Singer, Wayner, Stein, Cimino, & King, 1974).Despite these generalities, there are several interesting failures to observe schedule-induced behavior. For example, neither pigeons (Carlisle, Shanab, & Simpson, 1972) nor rats (King, 1974) engage in schedule-induced eating when water is presented intermittently. Further, rats do not engage in scheduleinduced aggression when food is intermittently presented (Hymowitz, 1971; but see Knutson & Schrader, 1975). The defining characteristic of SIP which originally generated research interest was the excessiveness of the quantity of water consumed when food was intermittently scheduled. Accordingly, excessiveness is regarded as the appropriate measure for assessing the occurrence of schedule-induced behavior. However, a failure to observe schedule induction, so defined, does not preclude the possibility that the behavior is, nevertheless, under the control of the schedule in terms of temporal patterning. This possibility was addressed in the present experiment in the context of eating during intermittent schedules of water presentation. METHOD SubjectsSubjects were three male albino Holtzman rats, approximately 6 months old at the start of the experiment. They had been briefly exposed t...

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Schedule-induced polydipsia and aggression in rats

Cited by 14 publications

References 13 publications

Schedule-induced wood-chewing in rats and its dependence on body weight

Schedule-induced wood-chewing in rats and its dependence on body weight

Mirror Pecking and Timeout Under a Multiple Fixed‐ratio Schedule of Food Delivery

Schedule control of eating by fixed-time schedules of water presentation

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