The behavior of rats in relation to complex patterns of partial reinforcement.

Abstract

Rats received food rewards for runway performance according to either a single alternation (SA) or double alternation (DA) schedule. The DA group ran equally rapidly on all trials. The SA group ran more slowly on trials following reinforcement, and in the early part of extinction they ran rapidly on all trials. Transferred to DA, they continued to run slowly on trials following reinforcement. The results were considered to be consistent with the stimulus-aftereffects hypothesis and inconsistent with the serial-patterning version of the discrimination hypothesis. From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3EL61B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)