Transfer of effort across behaviors

A series of experiments investigated the effects of required force and number of responses per reinforcer upon the subsequent performance of a second behavior. In the first experiment, a group of rats required to complete five round trips in an alley per food pellet subsequently bar-pressed for food at a greater rate than a group rewarded for each round trip or a control group that did not receive the alley experience. In the second experiment, a group required to apply a 70-g bar-press force subsequently shuttled for food at a greater rate than a group required merely to touch the lever or a control group that did not undergo the lever-press manipulation. The third experiment found that the force effect persisted across all five test sessions and was attributable to differences both in response speed and interresponse time. The fourth experiment found that both the necessary bar-press force and number of bar presses per reward affected subsequent shuttling in extinction. Two alternative interpretations of these results were compared: (a) the degree of accustomed effort per reinforcer becomes a generalized component of instrumental behavior or (b) high effort increases the habituation frustration-produced disruptive responses.