Abstract
Forty rats were trained for 10 acquisition and 20 extinction trials in a cold-water relief conditioning apparatus. Two levels of percent relief (30% vs. 70%) and number of transitions from nonrelief (N) to relief (R) trials (1 vs. 3) were factorially combined. Resistance to extinction was found to be a function of percent relief rather than number of N-R transitions.
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This research was supported by Public Health Service Research Grant ~t-02883 from the National Institute of Mental Health. A report of this experiment was presented at the meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, New York, 1975.
In accordance with a revised taxonomy of instrumental conditioning procedures (after Woods, 1974), the terms “relief” and “relief conditioning” are used to refer to negative reinforcement and escape conditioning, respectively.
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Millard, W.J., Johnston, A.J. & Woods, P.J. Effects of percent relief and number of N-R transitions on extinction in relief conditioning. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 11, 288–290 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336833
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336833