No impact of repeated extinction exposures on operant responding maintained by different reinforcer rates

• Published in: Behavioural processes 2017-05, Vol.138, p.29-33
• Main Authors: Bai, John Y.H., Podlesnik, Christopher A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal behavior; Animals; Columbidae; Conditioning, Operant; Discrimination; Discriminative stimuli; Extinction; Extinction, Psychological; Learning; Male; Multiple schedule; Operant conditioning; Partial reinforcement; Partial reinforcement extinction effect; Pigeon; Reinforcement; Reinforcement (Psychology); Reinforcement Schedule; Reinforcer rate; Repeated extinction; Resistance to extinction; Response strength; Satiation; Satiety
• ISSN: 0376-6357; 1872-8308
• DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.02.011

•Resistance to extinction was greater with greater reinforcement rates in a multiple schedule.•This pattern persisted across twelve repeated tests of extinction and resembled satiation tests.•More dynamic training and testing could reverse these effects. Greater rates of intermittent reinforcement in the presence of discriminative stimuli generally produce greater resistance to extinction, consistent with predictions of behavioral momentum theory. Other studies reveal more rapid extinction with higher rates of reinforcers – the partial reinforcement extinction effect. Further, repeated extinction often produces more rapid decreases in operant responding due to learning a discrimination between training and extinction contingencies. The present study examined extinction repeatedly with training with different rates of intermittent reinforcement in a multiple schedule. We assessed whether repeated extinction would reverse the pattern of greater resistance to extinction with greater reinforcer rates. Counter to this prediction, resistance to extinction was consistently greater across twelve assessments of training followed by six successive sessions of extinction. Moreover, patterns of responding during extinction resembled those observed during satiation tests, which should not alter discrimination processes with repeated testing. These findings join others suggesting operant responding in extinction can be durable across repeated tests.