..interesting..
Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology
1967, Vol. 63, No. 1, 1-6
MODIFICATION OF A VISCERAL RESPONSE, SALIVATION IN THIRSTY DOGS, BY INSTRUMENTAL TRAINING WITH WATER REWARD
1
NEAL E. MILLER AND ALFREDO CARMONA2
Yale University
Thirsty dogs rewarded by water for bursts of spontaneous salivation showed progressive increases in salivation, while other dogs, rewarded for brief periods without salivation, showed progressive decreases. No obvious motor responses were involved, but dogs rewarded for decreasing salivation appeared more drowsy than those rewarded for increasing it. Implications for learning theory and psychosomatic medicine are mentioned.
The purpose of the present study was to see whether it is possible to change the rate of spontaneous salivation of mildly thirsty dogs by using water to reward some of them when they increase their rate and others
when they decrease their rate.. Preliminary tests showed that the water did not elicit any appreciable change in salivation; furthermore, the effects of any classical conditioning produced by any unconditioned
effect of water were controlled by the procedure of rewarding different groups for changes in opposite directions.
Full article:http://faculty.uncfsu.edu/tvancantfo...s/A_Miller.pdf
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