Positive and negative incentive contrast in rats: A new look at the differences between the sexes
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Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK
2021
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1616340664295556 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-bgsu16163406642955562021-08-03T07:16:50Z Positive and negative incentive contrast in rats: A new look at the differences between the sexes Thompson, Kristina Marie Behavioral Psychology Psychology Motivation Operant Reward Instrumental behavior Sucrose Research on sex differences for preferences of reward outcomes, such as flavors, show mixed results between male and female rats. Some studies suggest that females perform consistently and at higher rates for sucrose concentrations than males; however, these finding are not consistently shown. This study examined sex difference in motivation for sucrose reward and focused on relative reward effects as they interact with basic motivation. Motivational drives help to maximize rewarding outcomes and avoid unpleasant states or punishments; an example of a motivational state is hunger. Inducing hunger through food restriction is a method that is used in the present study to examine its influence on reward processing. This study uses three levels of sucrose solution concentrations as rewards. All reward items have a value and past research suggests that a set of rewards can vary in value demonstrated by a preference hierarchy. In this study we are focused on determining if there is a difference between the sexes on their ability to change performance on the original concentration (control) given when an up-shift or down-shift occurs. If differences in responses to the same outcome occurs, then it is labeled as an incentive contrast. Results support few to no sex differences in reward discrimination or incentive contrast, but large sex differences in sucrose consumption. Moreover, significant effects were found for the influence of motivational state and behavioral context. Animals expressed incentive contrast when food restricted and in the context of their home cage. These effects were diminished to absent when animals ate freely or were tested in an operant task for relative reward effects. Overall, the findings point to diverse influences. 2021-05-24 English text Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1616340664295556 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1616340664295556 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
| collection |
NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Behavioral Psychology Psychology Motivation Operant Reward Instrumental behavior Sucrose |
| spellingShingle |
Behavioral Psychology Psychology Motivation Operant Reward Instrumental behavior Sucrose Thompson, Kristina Marie Positive and negative incentive contrast in rats: A new look at the differences between the sexes |
| author |
Thompson, Kristina Marie |
| author_facet |
Thompson, Kristina Marie |
| author_sort |
Thompson, Kristina Marie |
| title |
Positive and negative incentive contrast in rats: A new look at the differences between the sexes |
| title_short |
Positive and negative incentive contrast in rats: A new look at the differences between the sexes |
| title_full |
Positive and negative incentive contrast in rats: A new look at the differences between the sexes |
| title_fullStr |
Positive and negative incentive contrast in rats: A new look at the differences between the sexes |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Positive and negative incentive contrast in rats: A new look at the differences between the sexes |
| title_sort |
positive and negative incentive contrast in rats: a new look at the differences between the sexes |
| publisher |
Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1616340664295556 |
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AT thompsonkristinamarie positiveandnegativeincentivecontrastinratsanewlookatthedifferencesbetweenthesexes |
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