Reinforcing effects for female hamsters of non-copulatory exposure to normal male hamsters

Naturally cycling female hamsters were run in a T-maze to determine their preference for exposure to an intact male enclosed in one goal box or a castrated male in the other goal box; physical contact with the goal animals was prevented. All animals preferred the intact male, but only on estrous days, and the preference was maintained even when no differential stimuli reached the choice point from the goal animals. The preference is interpreted as demonstrating that non-copulatory exposure to stimuli emanating from an intact male is reinforcing for an estrous female.