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Related Experiment Videos

Stability and variability in extinction.

A Neuringer1, N Kornell, M Olufs

  • 1Psychology Department, Reed College, Portland, Oregon 97202, USA. allen.neuringer@reed.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes
|February 24, 2001
PubMed
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During extinction, rats increased response variability by exploring rare sequences. However, common response patterns persisted, suggesting a balance between exploiting known rewards and discovering new ones.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral neuroscience
  • Animal behavior

Background:

  • Extinction in operant conditioning can alter response structures or increase variability.
  • Previous research presents conflicting findings on the effects of extinction on response patterns.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate how extinction affects response variability and sequence probability in Long-Evans rats.
  • To determine if response patterns change or remain consistent after reinforcement withdrawal.

Main Methods:

  • Operant conditioning with Long-Evans rats across three distinct reinforcement schedules.
  • Extinction phase following established reinforcement schedules.
  • Analysis of response sequences, focusing on repetitions, variations, and probability changes.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Extinction led to an increase in response variability, with rare sequences becoming more frequent.
  • The overall ordering of response sequence probabilities remained largely unchanged.
  • Most common sequences during reinforcement continued to be the most frequent during extinction.

Conclusions:

  • Rats exhibit a dual strategy during extinction: maintaining previously reinforced behaviors while increasing exploratory variations.
  • This behavioral flexibility may optimize foraging for past rewards and facilitate new learning.
  • The findings suggest a nuanced adaptation to changing environmental contingencies.