Extinction of a food-reinforced response in hippocampectomized cats.

Abstract

Four hippocampectomized Ss and 4 Ss with neocortical ablations were trained to open a small window for a food reward. When the latency of the response reached criterional level, Ss were given a fixed number of trials on which the reward was omitted. The extinction trial latencies were shorter for the hippocampectomized Ss than for Ss with neocortical ablations (p = .01). It was suggested that a general effect of hippocampectomy is an increase in the effectiveness of positive reinforcement.