Discrimination of schedules that predict reinforcement from non-predictive ones and preference for less predictive schedules by rats

This study examined the behavior of rats on schedules that either did or did not contain information about impending reinforcement. Experiment 1 indicated that rats discriminated between schedules of reinforcement that differed only in the amount of information they contained about impending reinforcement. Experiment 2 revealed a preference for the schedule containing less information about impending reinforcement. The results suggest that predictable nonreinforcement is an important determiner of behavior in choice situations.