Abstract
Two experiments were conducted with human newborns to compare sucking behavior under nutritive and nonnutritive sucking conditions using several fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement. Results showed that: (1) nutritive sucking produces higher over-all sucking rates but lower within-burst rates, (2) burst lengths are longer during nutritive than nonnutritive sucking, (3) fewer bursts per unit time occur during nutritive sucking, (4) fluid termination following nutritive sucking produces a sharp response decrement, suggestive of a negative contrast effect when compared with sucking rates under continuous no-fluid sucking. Response diminution occurs in the first 2–3 min of sucking under all conditions, reflecting the necessity of control comparisons in studies documenting sucking change under changing stimulus or reinforcement conditions.
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