TEMPORAL STRUCTURE OF REINFORCEMENT - ANALYSIS OF BRAIN-STIMULATED REWARD

Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with electrodes aimed at the medial forebrain bundle. The electrodes were connected to brushings which permitted chronic electrical self-stimulation. Over time, the rats developed episodic response patterns (response bursts). Bursting for self-stimulation was demonstrated mathematically, and analyzed to establish contributions of drive-like and incentive-like processes to burst parameters. An incentive-priming model appeared to operate under steady state conditions but a drive-like process was detected when the steady state was perturbed. Thus, self-stimulation is not uniquely determined in accord with either a drive or an incentive model of motivation, but the precise contributions of each may be empirically tested and dissociated. © 1979 Academic Press, Inc.