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Contrast effects in the rat: A developmental study
Author(s) -
Fagen Jeffrey W.,
Shoemaker Gary E.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.420120110
Subject(s) - contrast (vision) , juvenile , psychology , contrast effect , developmental psychology , biology , ecology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Two experiments investigated the exhibition and development of positive and negative contrast effects in the consummatory behavior of juvenile and adult rats. Over a 4‐day session, animals were given alternating 30‐sec presentations of 2 bottles containing either 32 or 4% sucrose solutions. In Experiment I, different groups of rats were tested both cross‐sectionally and longitudinally using a cohort‐sequential design. Cross‐sectionally, animals at all ages exhibited both types of contrast and demonstrated increasing positive contrast effects with greater age. Discrepancies between the longitudinal and cross‐sectional samples were found to be due to the repeated testing procedure of the former design. Experiment II replicated the positive and negative contrast effects in the juvenile animals, indicating that the processes responsible for contrast effects are operating in the rat at a very early age.