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Updated: Mar 18, 2026
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Published on: February 8, 2018
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Learning to inhibit the response during instrumental (operant) extinction
Mark E Bouton1, Sydney Trask1, Rodrigo Carranza-Jasso1
1Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont.
Summary
Instrumental extinction involves learning response inhibition. Non-reinforcement of a specific response in a stimulus (S) suppresses that response, and this suppression transfers to the same response in other stimuli.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Animal Behavior
- Learning and Memory
Background:
- Instrumental extinction is traditionally viewed as response suppression.
- This study explores the role of response inhibition in instrumental extinction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether instrumental extinction involves learning to inhibit a learned response.
- To determine the specificity and transferability of response inhibition during extinction.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a discriminated operant procedure with rats, involving lever pressing or chain pulling.
- Experiments involved extinction of a response (R) in the presence of a discriminative stimulus (S) and tested response transfer.
Main Results:
- Extinction of a response in S weakened responding in S, unlike non-reinforced exposure to S.
- Response suppression was specific to the extinguished response but transferred to the same response when occasioned by different stimuli.
- Extinction effects transferred even when stimuli signaled different reinforcers.
Conclusions:
- Results support the hypothesis that instrumental extinction involves learning response inhibition.
- Response inhibition is a key mechanism underlying extinction, demonstrating specificity and transferability.
- Findings have implications for understanding and modifying learned behaviors.
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