Abstract
The present study varied intensity and duration of punishment and level of training in an attempt to produce facilitation of responding by punishment during extinction of an avoidance response. Animals were trained to avoid shock in a shuttlebox to a criterion of 2, 4, or 8 consecutive avoidance responses. The Ss were then put on a punishment-extinction schedule. Five intensities and two durations of punishment were used. No evidence for facilitation by punishment was found. Inhibition of responding was directly related to both intensity and duration of punishment but unrelated to level of training.
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This research was supported in part by Public Health Service Grant M-1562 from the National Institutes of Mental Health and in part by National Science Foundation Grant GB 235.
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Smith, N.F., Misanin, J.R. & Campbell, B.A. Effect of punishment on extinction of an avoidance response: Facilitation or inhibition?. Psychon Sci 4, 271–272 (1966). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342291
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342291