Insight em ratos com contigências de reforçamento positivo e negativo

Abstract

Some experimental data showed repertoire interconnection (insight) in rats (Rattus norvegicus) produced by training pre-requisite abilities using positive reinforcement. Borges (2019) developed an alternative procedure using negative reinforcement, which produced the interconnection. The present study had two goals: (a) replicating Borges (2019) by implementing another equipment and a variation from the original procedure; (b) testing repertoire interconnection using a hybrid procedure, training one of the pre-requisite abilities by positive reinforcement, and the other by negative reinforcement. In Experiment 1, just one of the rats that learned both of the abilities by negative reinforcement (n=3), solved the problem by interconnecting the pre-stablished abilities; none of the rats exposed to the hybrid procedure (n=3), nor those without a training history (n=2), solved the problem. In Experiment 2, neither of the rats that learned both abilities by negative reinforcement (n=2), nor those that learned one by positive reinforcement and the other by negative reinforcement (n=2), solved the problem. Despite the failure to solve the test, rats that learned both abilities by negative reinforcement showed more pro-solution behaviors than those that learned the abilities on a hybrid training. Possible procedural variables that hindered the resolution response will be discussed, as well as necessary adjustments to guarantee the interconnection during the final test.