Influence of the schedule of positive reinforcement on punished behavior.

Abstract

1 GROUP OF 24 RATS WAS REINFORCED FOR LEVER PRESSING ON A 5-MIN VARIABLE INTERVAL (VI) SCHEDULE OF REINFORCEMENT; A 2ND GROUP OF 24 SS WAS REINFORCED ON A 1/5-MIN VI SCHEDULE. 1/2 THE SS IN EACH GROUP RECEIVED A PUNISHMENT TRAINING PROCEDURE WHILE THE REMAINING SS SERVED AS UNPUNISHED CONTROLS. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A PUNISHING SHOCK IN REDUCING THE SUPPRESSION RATIO WAS INVERSELY RELATED TO THE RATE OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT. ALTHOUGH IT DID NOT SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE NUMBER OF SESSIONS TO A CRITERION OF EXTINCTION, PUNISHMENT REDUCED THE NUMBER OF RESPONSES DURING EXTINCTION. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)