Abstract
Thirty-two male albino rats were trained to run a straight runway on either a continuous reinforcement schedule (CRF) or a variable ratio (VR) schedule of reinforcement. Following 100 acquisition trials, half of the subjects in each reinforcement group received a single electroconvulsive shock (ECS) while the other half received no treatment. Results of 30 extinction trials showed that, overall, VR-trained subjects ran faster than did CRF-trained subjects; however, those CRF-trained subjects which experienced ECS were not significantly different from VR-trained subjects. The ECS treatment thus eliminated the usual partial reinforcement effect. Results were interpreted in terms of an increased drive or hyperactivity produced by the ECS.
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This research was supported in part by a grant from the University Council on Research. LSU.
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Young, A.G. ECS effects on the extinction of a running response following CRF or VR training. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 7, 169–170 (1976). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337155
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03337155