Abstract
Rats were run in a straight alley runway for five acquisition and 10 extinction trials. Partial reinforcement led to greater resistance to extinction than consistent reinforcement. The PRE evaluated in terms of mean extinction speed was greater for animals receiving exposure to the experimental apparatus prior to acquisition (either rewarded or nonrewarded placements) than for animals not receiving such exposure. The PRE evaluated in terms of rate of extinction did not differ across the three reward exposure conditions. The implications of these results were considered within the context of the frustration hypothesis.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
AMSEL, A. The role of frustrative nonreward in noncontinuous reward situations. Psychological Bulletin, 1958, 55, 102–119.
ANDERSON, N. H. Comparison of different populations: Resistance to extinction and transfer. Psychological Review, 1963, 70, 162–179.
CAPALDI, E. J., LANIER, A. T., & GODBOUT, R. C. Reward schedule effects following severely limited acquisition training. Journal of Experimental Psychology, in press.
McCAIN, G. Partial reinforcement effects following a small number of acquisition trials. Psychonomic Monograph Supplement, 1966, 1, 251–270 (Whole No. 12).
MOLTZ, H. Latent extinction and the fractional anticipatory response mechanism. Psychological Review, 1957, 64, 229–241.
STEIN, L. The classical conditioning of the consummatory response as a determinant of instrumental performance. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 1957, 50, 269–278.
SURRIDGE, C. T., RASHOTTE, M. E., & AMSEL, A. Resistance to extinction of a running response after a small number of partially rewarded trials. Psychonomic Science, 1967, 7, 31–32.
WAGNER, A. R. Effect of amount and percentage of reinforcement and number of acquisition trials on conditioning and extinction. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1961, 62, 234–252.
WEINSTOCK, S. Resistance to extinction of a running response following partial reinforcement under widely spaced trials. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, 1954, 47, 318–322.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This investigation was supported in part by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Research Grant HD 00949-06 to the third author and by Public Health Service fellowships 2-F1-MH-32, 183-03 (PS), and l-F1-MH-38, 131-01 (PS) from the National Institute of Mental Health to the first and second authors.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Godbout, R.C., Ziff, D.R. & Capaldi, E.J. Effect of several reward exposure procedures on the small trial PRE. Psychon Sci 13, 153–154 (1968). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342456
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342456