title: Influence of the reinforcement magnitude on omission effects.
abstract: Reinforcement Omission Effects (ROEs), indicated by higher rate of responses after nonreinforced trials in a partial reinforcement schedule, have been interpreted as behavioral transient facilitation after nonreinforcement induced by primary frustration, and/or behavioral transient inhibition after reinforcement induced by demotivation or temporal control. The size of the ROEs should depend directly on the reinforcement magnitude. The present experiment aimed to clarify the relationship between reinforcement magnitude and the omission effects manipulating the magnitude linked to discriminative stimuli in a partial reinforcement FI schedule. The results showed that response rates were higher after omission than after reinforcement delivery. Besides, response rates were highest immediately after the reinforcement omission of a larger magnitude than of a smaller magnitude. These data are interpreted in terms of ROEs multiple process behavioral facilitation after nonreinforcement, and behavioral transient inhibition after reinforcement.
authors: Department of Psychology and Education, Sciences and Letters, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. dadatrabalho@yahoo.com.br
authors: Danielle Marcilio
authors: DM
authors: Judice-Daher
authors: Tatiane Ferreira
authors: TF
authors: Tavares
authors: José Lino Oliveira
authors: JL
authors: Bueno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar / Q000523:psychology; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012932:Social Facilitation