Abstract
Sixty-four male albino rats were trained to run a straight runway. Half of the subjects were trained on a continuous reinforcement schedule (CRF) and half on a partial reinforcement schedule (PR). On reinforced trials, a lever was introduced into the goalbox and the subject was allowed to make 10 discrete trial leverpresses for sucrose. The lever was not introduced into the goalbox on nonreinforced trials. The subjects were trained under either a CRF or PR leverpress schedule. Upon completion of acquisition half of the subjects in each subgroup were extinguished in the runway and the other half were extinguished in the goalbox on the lever. Results showed that for subjects extinguished on the lever the partial reinforcement effect (PRE) was a function only of the lever reinforcement schedule and was independent of the runway reinforcement schedule. However for subjects extinguished in the runway, PR runway-trained subjects receiving CRF leverpress training were more resistant to extinction than were PR runway-trained subjects receiving PR leverpress training.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brown, R. T., & Logan, F. A. Generalized partial reinforcement effect. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1965, 60, 64–69.
Lewis, D. J. Partial reinforcement: A selective review of the literature since 1950. Psychological Bulletin, 1960, 57, 1–28.
Mowrer, O. H. Learning theory and behavior. New York: Wiley, 1960.
Rashotte, M. E. & Amsel, A. The generalized PRE: Within-S PRF and CRF training in different runways, at different times of day, by different experimenters. Psychonomic Science, 1968, 11, 315–316.
Young, A. G. & Costelloe, C. Resistance to extinction as a function of partial reinforcement and external stimuli: A within-S design. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1974, 3, 191–192.
Young, A. G., Hale, P. A., & Fuselier, G. D. A within-S test of the response and specificity of the PRE. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1974, 3, 437–439.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported in part by a grant from the University Council on Research, L.S.U., to the first author.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Young, A.G., Favret, W.R. & Keyes, J.B. Resistance to extinction as a function of reinforcement schedule: A within-subject design. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 5, 180–182 (1975). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333242
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333242