title: Retention under changed-reward conditions of persistence learned by infant rats.
abstract: Two experiments were performed to determine whether or not persistence acquired under reinforcement conditions of infancy can be retained and transferred to adult reinforcing conditions. In Experiment I 2 groups of rats 14-15 days of age were trained in a runway under a partial (PRF) or continuous (CRF) schedule of milk-suckling reinforcement. A 3rd group was trained under continuous nonreinforcement (NRF) conditions. The PRF and CRF groups acquired the approach response about equally, and the NRF showed a very small increase in speed. In immediate extinction, the PRF group was more resistant to extinction than its CRS counterpart. For the NRF group "extinction" produced a continuation of the low-level "acquisition" performance. Experiment II showed that persistence acquired at 14-15 days with milk-suckling reinforcement can be sustained through a 2-week retention period including a phase of CRF food-pellet reward.
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D051381:Rats; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D014163:Transfer, Psychology