To maintain water balance, terrestrial amphibians are motivated to seek water when dehydrated and to avoid hypertonic solutions that promote water loss to the environment. Thus, dehydration and hypertonic solutions both act to promote positive water balance through opposite appetitive and aversive mechanisms. In one experiment, we tested if appetitive and aversive stimuli interact to facilitate learning of the location of a water source in the fire-bellied toad Bombina orientalis. Dehydrated and hydrated toads were placed in a T-maze with accessible distilled water in one arm and hypertonic saline or inaccessible water in the other arm. Maze performance was assessed by measuring time to find the water source and correct first choices over 6 consecutive days of training. Results showed reduced time to find water in dehydrated toads but no reliable improvement in correct first choices that would indicate spatial learning. Hypertonic saline inhibited maze exploration but otherwise had no effect on performance. Because we expected spatial learning for water based on previous work in this species (Brattstrom, 1990 J Herpetol 24:44−47), we conducted a second experiment with longer training, again including dehydrated and hydrated toads. Maze training for four weeks with four weekly trials revealed a rapid reduction in time to find water in dehydrated toads followed later by an improvement in correct first choices suggestive of spatial learning. Additionally, changing the motivational status of toads after the four-week training period showed no evidence that hydrated toads had learned location of the water source during training. Our results suggest that both motivational and learning effects ameliorated water seeking behaviour in this terrestrial amphibian, but that motivation acted much faster than learning. Additionally, toads that experienced no reinforcement during training showed no latent learning effect.

为了保持水的平衡，陆地两栖动物被激发去脱水时去寻找水，并避免高渗溶液导致水向环境的流失。因此，脱水和高渗溶液均通过相反的食欲和厌恶机制来促进水的正平衡。在一个实验中，我们测试了刺激性和厌恶性刺激是否相互作用，以促进火腹蟾蜍Bombina Orientalis中水源位置的学习。将脱水蟾蜍和脱水蟾蜍放在T型迷宫中，一只手臂可接触蒸馏水，另一只手臂可吸收高渗盐水或不可接触的水。通过测量寻找水源的时间并在连续6天的训练中纠正正确的选择来评估迷宫的表现。结果表明，在脱水蟾蜍中寻找水份的时间减少了，但是对于表明空间学习的正确的第一选择却没有可靠的改善。高渗盐水抑制了迷宫探索，但对性能没有影响。因为我们希望根据该物种的先前工作来对水进行空间学习（Brattstrom，1990 J Herpetol 24：44-47），所以我们进行了第二次实验，训练时间更长，再次包括脱水蟾蜍和水蟾蜍。进行了为期四周的迷宫训练，并进行了每周四次的试验，发现在脱水蟾蜍中寻找水的时间迅速减少，随后在暗示空间学习的正确的第一选择方面进行了改进。此外，在为期四周的训练后改变蟾蜍的动机状态，没有证据表明水合蟾蜍在训练过程中已经学会了水源的位置。我们的研究结果表明，动机和学习效果都改善了这种陆栖两栖动物的寻水行为，但这种动机的作用要比学习快得多。另外，在训练过程中没有增强的蟾蜍没有潜在的学习效果。在为期四周的训练后改变蟾蜍的动机状态，没有证据表明水合蟾蜍在训练过程中已经了解到水的位置。我们的研究结果表明，动机和学习效果都改善了这种陆栖两栖动物的寻水行为，但这种动机的作用要比学习快得多。另外，在训练过程中没有增强的蟾蜍没有潜在的学习效果。在为期四周的训练后改变蟾蜍的动机状态，没有证据表明水合蟾蜍在训练过程中已经了解到水的位置。我们的研究结果表明，动机和学习效果都改善了这种陆栖两栖动物的寻水行为，但这种动机的作用要比学习快得多。另外，在训练过程中没有增强的蟾蜍没有潜在的学习效果。