Extinction of a partially and continuously reinforced response with and without a rewarded alternative.

Abstract

Partial reinforcement results in greater resistance to exptl. extinction than does continuous reinforcement. The purpose was to validate this generalization for retraining as well as for conventional extinction procedure. 58 hooded rats (Ss) were trained to traverse a runway under 2 levels of 100% reinforcement and 50% reinforcement. The control Ss were extinguished in the runway by food removal while the exptl. Ss under retraining could achieve reward by mastery of a black-white discrimination problem. In the control condition the 50% reward Ss were superior in resistance to extinction. In the exptl. retraining condition the 50% reward Ss fixated more on the previously rewarded runway and were slower to master the new task. It is concluded that a partial reinforcement regimen induces greater resistance to extinction than does continuous reinforcement, as shown in both an orthodox extinction setting and in a relearning paradigm.