`Inhibition of Reinforcement' and Phenomena of Experimental Extinction

Abstract

The hypothesis of "inhibition of reinforcement" as a negative adaptation to uniform stimulating conditions is suggested as an explanation of the conflicting results on exptl. extinction curves. A rise in the curves follows massed practice, which is thus explained as the disin-hibition resulting from the omission of the unconditioned stimulus. When the inhibition is allowed to dissipate before testing, no rise is obtained. Four deductions based upon the hypothesis are given exptl. verification.