Modification of a visceral response, salivation in thirsty dogs, by instrumental training with water reward.

Abstract

Thirsty dogs rewarded by water for bursts of spontaneous salivation showed progressive increases in salivation, while other dogs, rewarded for brief periods without salivation, showed progressive decreases. No obvious motor responses were involved, but dogs rewarded for decreasing salivation ap-peared more drowsy than those rewarded for increasing it. Implications for learning theory and psychosomatic medicine are mentioned. The traditional view of most learning theorists who have written specifically on the problem is that, while skeletal responses mediated by the somatic nervous system can be learned as instrumental responses rewarded by the law of effect, visceral re-sponses mediated by the autonomic nervous system can be learned only by classical