Resistance to extinction in the rat following regular and irregular schedules of partial reward.

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Abstract
Trained 4 groups of male albino Sprague-Dawley rats (N = 32) in a runway for 28 days on 1 of the following schedules: consistent reward (CRF), alternating partial reward (A), alternating partial reward followed by consistent reward (A-CRF), and an irregular partial reward schedule (I). Both Groups A and A-CRF learned to run faster on rewarded than nonrewarded trials and Group A-CRF quickly learned to run rapidly on all trials after being shifted to consistent reward. Resistance to extinction was greatest for Groups A-CRF and I, with Groups A and CRF extinguishing much more rapidly. Results support a hypothesis which suggests that a sequence discrimination present at the outset of extinction will reduce resistance to extinction relative to schedules, with similar parameters, that do not result in or maintain a sequence discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

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