Resistance to extinction of a conditioned operant as related to drive level at reinforcement.
- 1 January 1950
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Journal of Experimental Psychology
- Vol. 40 (4) , 473-487
- https://doi.org/10.1037/h0057128
Abstract
Conditioning of a lever-pressing response in albino rats after different intervals of food deprivation, in groups of animals receiving 1, 10 and 30 reinforcements, respectively, was followed by extinction of the response under constant conditions of hunger. Facility of conditioning was not consistently related to the prevalent intensity of drive, [prevailing at the time], but a tendency toward opt. conditioning was indicated where the prior period of fasting corresponded with that between regular daily feedings. Resistance to extinction of the conditioned response, in terms of several criteria, was not function-ally related to drive intensity at conditioning, for any of three levels of habit strength. The relation of these findings to previous research, and their implications for behavior theory are discussed.Keywords
This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:
- Behavior potentiality as a joint function of the amount of training and the degree of hunger at the time of extinction.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1942