ACTIVITY AS A FUNCTION OF A RESTRICTED FEEDING SCHEDULE
JOHN F. HALL AND PETER V. HANFORD
The Pennsylvania State University
A previous study (3) indicated that when
albino rats were placed on a feeding schedule
of 23-hr, deprivation and 1-hr, feeding, their
activity increased as a negatively accelerated
function of the number of days of restricted
feeding. This was in sharp contrast to the
relatively constant level of activity for con-
trol animals on an ad libitum feeding schedule.
These findings would seem to question the
implicit assumption found in many learning
experiments that equal, daily periods of dep-
rivation do not result in any systematic
change in strength of drive.
One possible defect of the previous study,
however, was that the data were obtained
from animals which had been deafened. Al-
though this was done to prevent any social
facilitating effect which the noise of the turn-
ing wheels might have had upon the activity
of the animals, it is conceivable that the sur-
gical techniques utilized in the deafening
process or the resultant sensory deprivation
might have contributed to the experimental
findings. Thus, generalization to normal ani-
mals becomes somewhat tenuous. It was the
purpose of the present study to replicate the
previous study utilizing nondeafened animals.
It would also seem that this study, as well
as the previous one mentioned (3), has rele-
vance to a recent study by Campbell and
Sheffield (1). These authors have challenged
the commonly held assumption that "increased
'drive' produces increased random activity."
Their hypothesis is that "drives involve
lowered thresholds to external stimulation,"
and from this they predict there should be
"little change in activity in an animal in a
drive state unless there were some external
stimulation." They dismissed those studies
which had previously indicated a functional
relationship between strength of drive and
activity (5, 6) by pointing out that no specific
attempts were made in those studies to main-
tain a constant environment.
METHOD
Subjects
The 5s were 20 male albino rats, aged 90 to 100 days
at the beginning of the experiment, obtained from the
362
animal colony of the Pennsylvania State University.
Three animals from the experimental group and one
from the controls died during the course of the experi-
ment.1 As a result, the final N was 16, which consisted
of 7 experimental and 9 control animals.
Apparatus and Procedure
Only a brief outline of the procedure will be pre-
sented inasmuch as it has been described previously
(3). The number of activity wheels (ten) necessitated
the running of the study in two consecutive sessions in
order to provide a suitable N. The apparatus consisted
of ten standard Wahmann activity drums equated for
f rictional torque by the method of Lacey (4). The drums
were located in a light-tight room and upon a macad-
amized floor. Room temperature throughout the ex-
perimental period was recorded continuously with a
thermograph. The temperature averaged 72° with a
range of 65° to 75°. Daily fluctuations rarely ex-
ceeded 2°.
The animals were first randomly assigned to the
experimental or control group and then placed in the
wheels; each session originated with five experimental
and five control animals. The animals were then given
an adaptation period of 14 days. Food and water were
continuously available during this period. Immediately
following the adaptation peroid, the base period began.
This consisted of a seven-day period in which the room
was isolated and darkened except for a daily IJ^-hr.
period under full illumination (10:30 A.M. until 12:00
M.). During this time counter readings were taken, the
animals weighed, and food and water replenished.
Food and water were continuously available during the
base period. The experimental period immediately
followed the base period and continued for 21 days. The
control animals continued on the base period regimen.
The experimental animals were placed on a restricted
feeding schedule and permitted access to food only from
11 A.M. until 12 M. each day. Water was continuously
available during this period.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Each animal's base rate (in revolutions per
day) was obtained by totaling the number of
recorded revolutions during the seven-day
base period and dividing by seven. The ani-
mal's activity for each experimental day was
1
An incidental and somewhat puzzling finding has
to do with the deaths occurring in the experimental
group. It seems unusual to have 30 per cent of the
experimental population die during the course of an
experiment. Two previous studies (3) show similar
findings, however. The behavior of these animals, until
approximately three days prior to their death, followed
the general rise in activity of the normal experimental
animals. At this time, their activity level increased
markedly and continued on a high level until death.
 ACTIVITY AND FEEDING SCHEDULE
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1800 DAILY MEANS
1000
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5 10 19 20
FIG. 1. Mean daily running activity, in percentage
of base rate. Broken curve, Exp. II (3); solid curve,
present experiment.
divided by the base rate in order to obtain a
daily figure expressed in terms of a percentage
of the base rate.
The large difference between the variances
of the experimental and control groups necessi-
tated the use of the Festinger technique (2)
to test for differences in activity. Each ani-
mal's daily running activity, in percentage of
base rate, was totaled and a mean obtained
for the 21-day period. Appropriate rankings
based on these means were then given to the
experimental and control animals. Results
indicated that the difference between the
experimental and control groups was signifi-
cant beyond the .01 level of confidence.
The means for the experimental and con-
trol animals for each day of the experimental
period are indicated in Figure 1, along with
the means of the previous study (Exp. II, 3)
which utilized deafened animals. Statistical
analysis, as well as inspection of these curves,
supports the position that the deafening pro-
cedure and subsequent sensory deprivation
did not result in the production of significant
differences between the two experimental or
the two control groups.
The results tend to extend and lend further
support to the previous findings that a re-
stricted feeding schedule results in increased
activity, and presumably increased drive
strength. It is difficult to reconcile these
findings with the hypothesis proposed by
Campbell and Sheffield (1). It will be recalled
that these authors stated there should be
"little change in activity in an animal in a
drive state unless there were some external
stimulation." Constant external environments
were present and yet significant differences in
activity were produced as a function of differ-
363
ent drive strengths. Furthermore, it would
seem that the Campbell-Sheffield hypothesis
would predict that the decreased external
stimulation for the deafened animals would
result in a lowering of their activity as con-
trasted with the normal animals. This is not
supported either in the experimental or con-
trol groups. It is possible that the exceedingly
short interval of time that activity was re-
corded (10 min. per day for seven days) has
resulted in their particular findings, or that
the effect of auditory stimulation on activity
is different from that of visual stimulation. If
the latter is true, the generality of the Camp-
bell-Sheffield hypothesis would seem to be
considerably restricted.
SUMMARY
The present study was an attempt to deter-
mine the activity level of nondeafened albino
rats placed on a restricted feeding schedule.
Nine control animals were given free access to
food and water; seven experimental animals
were given free access to water but had 23-hr,
daily food deprivation. The activity of the
control group remained relatively stable, but
the mean daily activity of the experimental
group increased markedly. These findings
showed marked similarity to a previous study
which had used deafened animals. The results
extend the findings of the previous study as
well as question a recent theory of drive pro-
posed by Campbell and Sheffield.
REFERENCES
1. CAMPBELL, B. A., & SHEFFIELD, F. D. Relation of
random activity to food deprivation. /. camp,
physiol. Psychol., 1953, 46, 320-322.
2. FESTINGER, L. The significance of difference be-
tween means without reference to the frequency
distribution function. Psychometrika, 1946, 11,
97-105.
3. HALL, J. F., SMITH, K., SCHNITZER, S. B., & HAN-
FORD, P. V. Elevation of activity level in the rat
following transition from ad libitum to restricted
feeding. /. camp, physiol. Psychol., 1953, 46,
429-433.
4. LACEY, 0. L. A revised procedure for the calibration
of the activity wheel. Amer. J. Psychol., 1944, 67,
412-420.
5. RICHTER, C. P. Animal behavior and internal
drives. Quart. Rev. Biol., 1927, 2, 307-343.
6. WADA, T. An experimental study of hunger in its
relation to activity. Arch. Psychol., 1922, No. 57.
Received February 22, 1954.