The work costs of earning food as a determinant of patch leaving.

Foraging theorists have long emphasized the role of the energy (work) costs of food items on foraging behavior. However, few experiments have measured this variable or demonstrated that animals are indeed sensitive to work costs. Experiment 1 assessed whether rats (Long-Evans) can use the work costs of food to determine whether a food patch is exhausted. Rats performed a fixed amount of work for each food item (fixed-work [FW] schedule), but food was withheld unpredictably to simulate sudden patch depletion. It was found that rats left patches only when the work costs of unsuccessful searches (giving-up work) exceeded the prevailing costs of food. The time and response costs of unsuccessful food searches (giving-up time and giving-up responses) were not predictive of patch leaving. Experiment 2 showed how rats regulated work in this paradigm by examining the exteroceptive stimuli connected with fulfilling the FW schedule. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)