Nosepoke Omission Contingency with Rats and Sucrose Solution: A Pilot Study

Rats heard an 8-s tone before a pump dispensed water or 5% sucrose-water into a dish. Nosepokes into the drinking area during tone canceled liquid delivery on that trial. Nevertheless, rats nosepoked at higher rates during sessions when tone preceded sucrose solution than during sessions when tone preceded water. These results demonstrate the viability of nosepoking in an omission contingency with sucrose-water reward. The relative ease of manipulating sucrose concentrations in water suggests omission-contingency may be useful for investigating interactions between operants and sucrose-induced respondents, and as a measure in nonhuman animal studies of response suppression.