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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 9, 2026

Protocol for Studying Extinction of Conditioned Fear in Naturally Cycling Female Rats

Protocol for Studying Extinction of Conditioned Fear in Naturally Cycling Female Rats

Published on: February 23, 2015

Time, trials, and extinction.

Justin A Harris¹, Benjamin J Andrew¹

¹School of Psychology.

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Learning and Cognition

|January 4, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Extinction of Pavlovian conditioning in rats is faster with more trials, not longer trial durations. More frequent conditioned stimulus (CS) presentations during extinction learning significantly impact conditioning processes.

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Area of Science:

Behavioral Neuroscience
Learning and Memory
Animal Behavior

Background:

Pavlovian conditioning is a fundamental learning process.
Extinction is the reduction of a conditioned response after repeated exposure to the conditioned stimulus (CS) without the unconditioned stimulus (US).
The factors influencing extinction rate, such as trial number and duration, are crucial for understanding conditioning theories.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how the number of trials and total duration of nonreinforced exposure to the conditioned stimulus (CS) affect the extinction of Pavlovian conditioning.
To differentiate the roles of trial frequency versus trial duration in extinction learning.

Main Methods:

Four experiments were conducted using rats in a magazine approach paradigm.
Rats were trained with multiple CSs paired with a US on a variable CS-US interval.
During extinction, CSs varied in the number and length of trials but were matched for total exposure duration.

Main Results:

Extinction proceeded significantly more quickly for the CS that received a greater number of trials per session.
No difference in extinction rate was observed between CSs matched on trial number but differing in individual trial duration.
This indicates that trial number, not trial duration, is the critical factor in extinction speed.

Conclusions:

The findings support trial-based theories of conditioning over time-based theories regarding extinction.
The frequency of CS presentations during extinction is a key determinant of response decrement.
This research provides empirical evidence clarifying the mechanisms underlying extinction in associative learning.