Partial reinforcement effects in classical aversive conditioning in rabbits and human beings.
The partial reinforcement extinction effect (the PREE) in classical aversive conditioning was investigated in 2 experiments. In the first, the nictitating membrane responses of 120 rabbits were conditioned at a 250-msec. interstimulus interval (ISI) under continuous reinforcement, partial reinforcement with the unconditioned stimulus (US) omitted (Group PO), or partial reinforcement with the US delayed to 1,500 msec. (Group PD). These 3 groups were factorially extinguished under US-Omitted, US-Unpaired, or US-Delayed extinction regimens. A significant PREE was obtained, but only for PO training and US-Omitted extinction. The second experiment, employing human subjects in a masked eye blink conditioning task, produced parallel results. A general discrimination view of the classical PREE seems applicable, but one in which neither cognitive factors nor intertrial conditioning of reinforcement aftereffects play a significant role.
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D003215:Conditioning, Eyelid; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004597:Electroshock; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D010470:Perceptual Masking; D011817:Rabbits; D011930:Reaction Time; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D013997:Time Factors