article Closed Access EN 1975-01-01

Partial reinforcement effects in classical aversive conditioning in rabbits and human beings.

Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, Vol. 88, Issue 2, pp. 596–608 (1975)

DOI: 10.1037/h0076419 PMID: 1150940

Abstract

The partial reinforcement extinction effect (the PREE) in classical aversive conditioning was investigated in 2 experiments. In the first, the nictitating membrane responses of 120 rabbits were conditioned at a 250-msec. interstimulus interval (ISI) under continuous reinforcement, partial reinforcement with the unconditioned stimulus (US) omitted (Group PO), or partial reinforcement with the US delayed to 1,500 msec. (Group PD). These 3 groups were factorially extinguished under US-Omitted, US-Unpaired, or US-Delayed extinction regimens. A significant PREE was obtained, but only for PO training and US-Omitted extinction. The second experiment, employing human subjects in a masked eye blink conditioning task, produced parallel results. A general discrimination view of the classical PREE seems applicable, but one in which neither cognitive factors nor intertrial conditioning of reinforcement aftereffects play a significant role.

Topics

Memory and Neural Mechanisms 1.00 Neural dynamics and brain function 0.93

Field: Neuroscience · Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Keywords

Reinforcement,Extinction (optical mineralogy),Classical conditioning,Conditioning,Psychology,Interstimulus interval,Aversive Stimulus,Unconditioned stimulus,Audiology,Stimulus (psychology)