Delay of reward as a secondary reinforcer

Thirty rats were trained and extinguished in an alley of a Grice apparatus to determine whether or not delay of reward had secondary reward value. Half of Ss had delay associated with reward (DR) and nondelay associated with nonreward; half(DNR) had the opposite. In extinction half of each group had delay box confinement, half did not. An alternating reward and nonreward pattern was used in training and Ss in both groups showed clear evidence of patterned running. Group DNR ran significantly faster in training and extinction, but the expected secondary reinforcement effects were not found.