Reward and learning in the goldfish.

An experiment with goldfish showed the effects of change in amount of reward that are predicted from reinforcement theory. The performance of animals shifted from small to large reward improved gradually to the level of unshifted large-reward controls, while the performance of animals shifted from large to small reward remained at the large-reward level. The difference between these results and those obtained in analogous experiments with the rat suggests that reward functions differently in the instrumental learning of the two animals.