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J Exp Anal Behav

Title:		Sexual reinforcement in the female rat
Author(s):		Matthews TJ; Grigore M; Tang L; Doat M; Kow LM; Pfaff DW;
Address:		"Department of Psychology, New York University, New York 10003, USA. tjm@psych.nyu.edu"
Journal Title:		J Exp Anal Behav
Year:		1997
Volume:		68
Issue:		3
Page Number:		399 - 410
DOI:		10.1901/jeab.1997.68-399
ISSN/ISBN:		0022-5002 (Print) 0022-5002 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Sexual reinforcement in the female rat was studied in a preparation that allowed continuous operant responding for access to a male rat leading to intromission. Experiment 1 used a high operant level nose-poke response to test the possible reinforcing effects of some components of access to a male. A simple tone stimulus used as a conditioned reinforcer and two odor stimuli, target male bedding and emulsified preputial gland, were tested. None of these contingent events altered responding above or below operant level. Access to the male, which was always accompanied by intromission, immediately increased response rate when it was made contingent upon the nose-poke response. Performance on fixed-ratio schedules was erratic, and response rate was low in comparison to typical food-reinforced responding. An interresponse-time analysis indicated, however, that some effect of the ratio contingency may have been present. In Experiment 2, several modifications of the procedure were tested with the objective of creating a more tractable preparation for behavior analysis. Response type and the hormone delivery method were changed, and 2 target males were used instead of 1. The latter tripled the average number of reinforcers earned in a single session. Differences between sexual and other reinforcers are discussed in terms of procedural, quantitative, and motivational aspects of the sexual reinforcement procedure"
Keywords:		"Animals *Conditioning, Operant *Copulation Female Male *Motivation Rats Reinforcement Schedule Sex Attractants *Sexual Behavior, Animal Social Environment;"
Notes:		"MedlineMatthews, T J Grigore, M Tang, L Doat, M Kow, L M Pfaff, D W eng 1998/02/12 J Exp Anal Behav. 1997 Nov; 68(3):399-410. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1997.68-399"