Mechanisms of resurgence II: Response-contingent reinforcers can reinstate a second extinguished behavior - PubMed (original) (raw)

Mechanisms of resurgence II: Response-contingent reinforcers can reinstate a second extinguished behavior

Neil E Winterbauer et al. Learn Motiv. 2011.

Abstract

Three experiments with rat subjects examined resurgence of an extinguished instrumental response using the procedure introduced by Epstein (1983) with pigeons. There were three phases: (1) initial acquisition of pressing on a lever (L1) for pellet reward, (2) extinction of L1, and (3) a test session in which a second lever (L2) was inserted, briefly reinforced, and then extinguished. Experiment 1 confirmed that if pressing L2 delivered 20 pellets followed by extinction, rats would resume L1 responding in the final test. Experiment 2 compared the effects of response-contingent and non-contingent rewards delivered upon insertion of L2. Although insertion of L2 alone did not increase L1 responding, response-contingent and non-contingent rewards led to comparable increases in L1 responding. Experiment 3 found that the delivery of non-contingent pellets during extinction of L1, which would be expected to reduce the ability of pellets to set the occasion for the L1 response, also reduced the effects of both response-contingent and non-contingent rewards during the final test. The results indicate that in this method, the resurgence treatment leads to an increase in L1 pressing due to simple presentation of the pellet; delivering the reinforcer after extinction of L1 reinstates L1 responding by setting the occasion for the L1 response.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Responding on Lever 1 during the sessions of acquisition and extinction in Experiment 1.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Responding on Lever 1 (L1, top) and Lever 2 (L2, bottom) during the test session of Experiment 1. L2 was inserted 15 mins into the session. Lever pressing during the resurgence treatment (0) is at center, and the bin length varies by subject; the remaining data points correspond to the 3-minute bins that preceded (left) and followed (right) the resurgence treatment. Note that L1 and L2 ordinates differ.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Responding on Lever 1 for each group during the sessions of acquisition and extinction in Experiment 2.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Responding on Lever 1 (L1, top) and Lever 2 (L2, bottom) during the test session of Experiment 2. L2 was inserted 15 mins into the session. During treatment (0), Group Resurge was reinforced for the first 20 presses on L2, Group Reinstate received non-contingent pellets (yoked to members of Group Resurge), and Group Ext received no pellets; bin length varied with yoked pairs in Groups Resurge and Reinstate. The remaining data points correspond to the 3-minute bins that followed (right) and preceded (left) the groups’ differential treatment. L1 and L2 ordinates differ.

Figure 5

Figure 5

Responding on Lever 1 during the sessions of acquisition and extinction in Experiment 3. Groups that received no free pellets or free pellets during extinction are each shown in the left and right panels, respectively.

Figure 6

Figure 6

Responding on Lever 1 (L1, top) and Lever 2 (L2, bottom) during the test session of Experiment 3. L2 was inserted 15 mins into the session. During treatment (0), Resurge groups were reinforced for the first 20 presses on L2 and the Reinstate groups received non-contingent pellets (yoked to a member of the corresponding Group Resurge; bin lengths again varied with yoked pairs). The remaining data points correspond to the 3-minute bins that followed (right) and preceded (left) the groups’ differential treatment. L1 and L2 ordinates again differ.

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