On resistance to extinction in a free-operant : an analysis of the effects of alternative reinforcement
Year: 1981
Type: article
Abstract: According t o t h e matching p r i n c i p l e f o r asymptotic operant behavior, responses a r e expected t o be d i s t r i b u t e d between o r among a v a i l a b l e a l t e r n a t i v e s i n t h e same p r o p o r t i o n a s t h e reinforcements y i e l d e d therefrom.I n t h e work below, t h e matching p r i n c i p l e i s outl i n e d and i n s t a n c e s of supporting d a t a a r e discussed.It is shown t h a t t h e matching p r i n c i p l e has formal i m p l i c a t i o n s f o r t h e concept and e m p i r i c a l phenomena of free-operant e x t i n c t i o n .I n p a r t i c u l a r , i t is argued t h a t operant conditioning and e x t i n c t i o n a r e n o t , from t h e p e r s p e c t i v e of t h e matching p r i n c i p l e , d i s t i n c t i v e processes r e q u i r i n g s e p a r a t e e x p l a n a t i o n b u t a r e r a t h e r two a s p e c t s of t h e same behavioral process, r e s p o n s e a l l o c a t i o n and r e -a l l o c a t i o n a s guided by t h e matching p r i n c i p l e .It i s , moreover, suggested t h a t t h e matching p r i n c i p l e has formal i m p l i c a t i o n s f o r t h e g e n e r a l i t y and robustness of r e s i s t a n c e t o e x t i n c t i o n e f f e c t s .In p a r t i c u l a r , i t is argued t h a t t h e matching p r i n c i p l e imposes motivational c o n s t r a i n t s on t h e g e n e r a l i t y of t h e so-called partial-reinforcement e f f e c t (PRE), with r o b u s t PREs being confined t o s e t t i n g s i n which t h e l e v e l of a l t e r n a t i v e o r "background" reinforcement is r e l a t i v e l y meager.Three experiments were conducted t o t e s t t h e e f f e c t s of t h e l e v e l of background reinforcement on r e s i s t a n c e t o e x t i n c t i o n i n i n t e r m i t t e n t l y r e i n f o r c e d operant responses.In experiment I, 45 s u b j e c t s (hungry pigeons) w e r e t r a i n e d i n a t w o -a l t e r n a t i v e operant conditioning apparatus t o peck a t t h e two concurrently a v a i l a b l e response-keys f o r occasional access t o food-reinforcement.They w e r e then assigned t o one of n i n e groups d i f f e r i n g i n 1 ) t h e l e v e l of reinforcement y i e l d e d by pecks t o t h e r i g h t o r " a l t e r n a t i v e " response-key and/or 2) t h e r a t i o of responses t o reinforcements arranged f o r pecks t o t h e l e f t o r "target" responsekey.Following e i g h t days of a c q u i s i t i o n t r a i n i n g t h e reinforcement yielded by t h e t a r g e t response was omitted and t h a t response was allowed t o undergo e x t i n c t i o n .The conditions of reinforcement a s s o c i a t e d with t h e a l t e r n a t i v e response continued u n i n t e r r u p t e d during e x t i n c t i o n of t h e t a r g e t response.It was found t h a t r e s i s t a n c e t o e x t i n c t i o n ( o r t h e number of t a r g e t responses emitted i n e x t i n c t i o n ) was i n v e r s e l y r e l a t e d t o t h e l e v e l of p r e v a i l i n g background reinforcementfood y i e l d e d by t h e a l t e r n a t i v e response, a f i n d i n g which i s c o n s i s t e n t with t h e matchingbased account of e x t i n c t i o n ( i .e ., response r e -a l l o c a t i o n theory) advanced h e r e i n .In o r d e r t o t e s t f o r t h e p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t the e x t i n c t i o n -r e l a t e d response decrements observed i n experiment I were produced by i n t e r f e r e n c e o r i g i n a t i n g i n t h e repeated occurrence of t h e a l t e r n a t i v e response r a t h e r t h a n by t h e motivational decrements p o s i t e d by response re-allocation theory, a second experiment was conducted.Experiment I1 was a r e p l i c at i o n of experiment I with t h e added provision t h a t t h e reinforcements y i e l d e d by t h e a l t e r n a t i v e response were s i g n a l l e d i n order t o substant i a l l y reduce t h e frequency of t h a t response, t h e presumed source of p o t e n t i a l i n t e r f e r e n c e .I n c o n t r a s t t o t h e r e s u l t s of experiment I, t h e presence of a source of background reinforcement, when s i g n a l l e d , markedly enhanced t h e r e s i s t a n c e t o e x t i n c t i o n evidenced by t h e t a r g e t response i n experiment 11.P o s s i b l e explanations of t h e r e s u l t s of experiment I1 were discussed and t h e hypothesis was advanced t h a t t h o s e r e s u l t s a r e confined t o "extinction-naive" s u b j e c t s .A preliminary i n v e s t i g a t i o n of t h a t hypothesis, i n which s u b j e c t s (hungry pigeons) w e r e run through f i v e conditioning-extinction c y c l e s , showed t h a t t h e response enhancing e f f e c t s of s i g n a l l e d a l t e r n a t i v e reinforcement disappeared with repeated exposure t o t h e e x t i n c t i o n operation, thus supporting t h e foregoing hypothesis.
Source: Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Author: John C. Damron
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2278459561