Facilitation of extinction by an increase or a decrease in trial duration.
Five experiments examined the effects of altering the duration of a conditioned stimulus (CS) for extinction. For the first 3 experiments, rats received conditioning with a 10-s CS before different groups received extinction with a CS that was either the same duration or longer than that used for conditioning. For the remaining 2 experiments, conditioning was conducted with a 60-s CS before different groups received extinction with a CS of either the same duration or a shorter duration than that used for conditioning. In all experiments, extinction progressed more readily when the CS duration was different for the 2 stages than when it was constant. The results are discussed in terms of rate expectancy theory and associative learning theory.
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3YG, United Kingdom. naselgrovem@cardiff.ac.uk
Mark
M
Haselgrove
John M
JM
Pearce
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D003463:Cues; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D013997:Time Factors