Aparicio, C. F., & Baum, W. M. (1997).
Comparing locomotion with lever-press travel in an operant simulation of foraging.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior,
68, 177-192.
An operant model of foraging was studied. Rats searched for food
by pressing on the left lever, the patch, which provided one,
two, or eight reinforcers before extinction (i.e., zero
reinforcers). Obtaining each reinforcer lowered the probability
of receiving another reinforcer, simulating patch depletion. Rats
traveled to another patch by pressing the right lever, which
restored reinforcer availability to the left lever. Travel
requirement changed by varying the probability of reset for
presses on the right lever; in one condition, additional
locomotion was required. That is, rats ran 260 cm from the left
to the right lever, made one response on the right lever, and ran
back to a fresh patch on the left lever. Another condition added
three hurdles to the 260-cm path. The lever-pressing and simple
locomotion conditions generated equivalent travel times. Adding
the hurdles produced longer times in patches than did the
lever-pressing and simple locomotion requirements. The results
contradict some models of optimal foraging but are in keeping
with McNair's (1982) optimal giving-up time model and add to the
growing body of evidence that different environments may produce
different foraging strategies.
Key words: foraging, travel, depletion, operant behavior,
locomotion, lever press, rats