title: Comparison of the rates of associative change during acquisition and extinction.
abstract: Five experiments used a compound test procedure to compare the rate parameters for the associative changes resulting from reinforcement and nonreinforcement. Experiments 1 and 4, using a magazine-approach procedure in rats, found initial acquisition to proceed more rapidly but to generalize less broadly than extinction. Experiments 2 and 5 repeated these observations in an autoshaping preparation with pigeons. Experiment 3 found no evidence for differential disruption of acquisition and extinction in testing. These results were obtained in a test procedure that compares responding with stimulus compounds in order to remove the differences in overall performance, which have complicated inferences about associative changes in earlier experiments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3815 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. rescorla@cattell.psych.upenn.edu
authors.forename: Robert A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rescorla
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D010856:Columbidae; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012858:Size Perception; D013997:Time Factors; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology