AbstractTwo experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of maternal undernutrition during gestation and lactation upon the incentive value of a food reward and upon performance and reversal learning in an escape‐from‐water task. The results of the present experiments suggest that offspring of underfed mothers have lower incentive values for food rewards than control offspring, although they are able to perform comparably in an escape‐from‐water task. The implication is that the results of hunger‐motivated tests of problem solving or learning in maternally undernourished and control offspring ar