PSYC 2230 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Ronald Melzack, Brainstem, Thalamus

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2230
• Professor: Pauline Charlton

Document Summary

3 groups were given 1, 16,, 256 pellets of food in the goal box after rats ran down alleyways. The groups run for the same amounts of food for 20 days. Then all groups were switched to 16 pellets. Running speed shifts rapidly when the condition of the reinforcement changed: 1-16 grains: running speed increased because of more incentive, 16-16 grains: running speed stays the same, 256-16 grains: running speed decreases because of less incentive. The larger reward group now getting smaller rewards slowed down in relation to the control group. The smaller reward group ran quicker than control. Conclusion: the behaviour changed drastically when the amount of incentive changed. Hull assumed that change of incentive does not change motivation (motivation is constant) wrong. Crespi"s experiment proved that incentive energize behaviour and hence influence motivation. Hull and spence in the 50"s both use k to represent incentive motivation.