Abstract
Concurrent variable‐ratio schedules of electrical brain stimulation, food, and water were paired in various combinations as reinforcement of rats' lever presses. Relative prices of the concurrent reinforcers were varied by changing the ratio of the response requirements on the two levers. Economic substitutability, measured by the sensitivity of response ratio to changes in relative price, was highest with brain stimulation reinforcement of presses on both levers and lowest with food reinforcement of presses on one lever and water reinforcement of presses on the other. Substitutability with brain stimulation reinforcement of presses on one lever and either food or water reinforcement for presses on the other was about as high as with brain stimulation for presses on both levers. Electrical brain stimulation for rats may thus serve as an economic substitute for two reinforcers, neither of which is substitutable for the other. 1991 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 133-143 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1991 |
Keywords
- concurrent variable‐ratio schedules
- economics
- electrical brain stimulation
- food
- lever press
- rats
- substitutability
- water