Abstract
Three groups of 12 rats received 25 pretraining trials to each future discriminandum employed in a subsequent differential brightness conditioning problem. Groups NR and RN received partial reinforcement (PRF) pretraining either with or without, respectively, transitions from nonrewarded to rewarded trials (N-R transitions). Group CRF received consistent reinforcement during pretraining. A fourth group (n=12), Group NP, received no pretraining. During discrimination learning, one-half of the rats in each group received all their daily S+ trials preceding their daily S− trials (+− sequence); the remainder of the rats received an intermixed sequence of trials to S+ and S− (+−+ sequence). Discrimination learning was faster under the +− sequence than under the +−+ condition, and discrimination learning was retarded in Group NR relative to the other three groups, which did not differ from one another, under both the +− and +−+ discrimination sequence conditions. The results are discussed with Reference to previous experiments demonstrating N-R transition effects on discrimination learning, a theoretical extension of sequential theory to discrimination learning, and the effects of nondifferential reinforcement prior to discrimination learning on learned irrelevance.
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This experiment was supported in part by a grant from Arkansas State University and by NIMH Grant 1 R03 MH33349-01 to the author.
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Haggbloom, S.J. Effect of N-R transitions during partial reinforcement pretraining on subsequent resistance to discrimination. Animal Learning & Behavior 10, 61–64 (1982). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212047
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03212047