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Extinction after regular and irregular reward schedules in the infant rat: influence of age and training duration

M W Lilliquist1, H P Nair, F Gonzalez-Lima

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin 78712, USA.

Developmental Psychobiology
|January 27, 1999
PubMed

Insights

Infant rats trained with patterned single alternation (PSA) showed faster extinction than those trained with partial reinforcement (PRF) when discrimination was learned. Early extinction training in PSA led to slower extinction, similar to PRF.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral neuroscience
  • Animal behavior
  • Learning and memory

Background:

  • The partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) describes greater persistence in extinction after inconsistent rewards.
  • Understanding PREE in early development is crucial for learning models.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate extinction rates in infant rats under different partial reinforcement schedules.
  • To compare random partial reinforcement (PRF) and patterned single alternation (PSA) extinction rates.
  • To examine the impact of age and training onset on extinction behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Three experiments compared extinction rates of infant rat pups under continuous reinforcement (CRF), PRF, and PSA schedules.
  • Extinction was measured by response persistence after reward withdrawal.
  • Age-dependent effects were assessed using 12-day-old and 17-day-old pups.

Main Results:

  • 17-day-old pups trained with PSA showed extinction rates similar to CRF.
  • Early extinction training in PSA prior to discrimination acquisition resulted in prolonged, PRF-like extinction curves.
  • 12-day-old pups exhibited no reward-schedule-related differences in extinction, despite acquisition differences.

Conclusions:

  • Results suggest a modification of Amsel's discrimination learning model.
  • A dissociation between different reward expectancies may exist in younger subjects.
  • Age and training methodology significantly influence extinction persistence and learning in infant rats.

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