ABSTRACT
Consider an animal, which in order to gain a food reward, responds either by traversing a runway or completing a fixed ratio. It seems totally evident that the behavior involved in running from the start to the goal portion of a runway or completing a number of bar-presses or pecks is organized in the sense that a variety of subbehaviors occur in a particular order, an order suited to gaining reward. For example, the naive animal on being placed in the runway, sniffs the air, rears, walks back and forth, freezes, and otherwise roams about in a seemingly aimless manner. Contrast this ineffectual responding with that of the trained rat. It orients immediately to the start door. The start door opens, it races down the runway. As it approaches the goal cup it slows down. Finally it stops, positions itself over the goal cup, and eats if food is available. Let us refer to the various responses that, taken together, result in the animal being moved as it were from start to goal as the runway response. Sometimes, components of the runway response have been employed as the dependent variable (see, e.g., Miller, 1956).
