The partial reinforcement extinction effect: The proportion of trials reinforced during conditioning predicts the number of trials to extinction.

Chan, Ching Yuen; Harris, Justin A.

doi:10.1037/xan0000190

Cited by 29 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The probability of reinforcement during training is known to have a scalar effect on trials to acquisition and on trials to extinction (Chan & Harris, 2019;Gibbon et al, 1980). The probability of reinforcement during training is known to have a scalar effect on trials to acquisition and on trials to extinction (Chan & Harris, 2019;Gibbon et al, 1980).…”

Section: The Fundamental Importance Of Computationally Derived Ratiosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The probability of reinforcement during training has a scalar effect on trials to extinction. If on average only 1 in n trials is reinforced during training, it takes nk trials to reach any given extinction criterion, where k is a constant that depends on the criterion (Chan & Harris, 2019;Gibbon, Farrell, Locurto, Duncan, & Terrace, 1980).…”

Section: Numerosity In Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Probability of reinforcement. The probability of reinforcement during training is known to have a scalar effect on trials to acquisition and on trials to extinction (Chan & Harris, 2019;Gibbon et al, 1980). Because these effects on trials to acquisition and trials to extinction are scalar, the probability of reinforcement has no effect on reinforcements to acquisition and omitted reinforcements to extinction.…”

Section: The Fundamental Importance Of Computationally Derived Ratiosmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Number and time in acquisition, extinction and recovery

Gallistel

Papachristos

2019

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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We measured rate of acquisition, trials to extinction, cumulative responses in extinction, and the spontaneous recovery of anticipatory hopper poking in a Pavlovian protocol with mouse subjects. We varied by factors of 4 number of sessions, trials per session, intersession interval, and span of training (number of days over which training extended). We find that different variables affect each measure: Rate of acquisition [1/(trials to acquisition)] is faster when there are fewer trials per session. Terminal rate of responding is faster when there are more total training trials. Trials to extinction and amount of responding during extinction are unaffected by these variables. The number of training trials has no effect on recovery in a 4-trial probe session 21 days after extinction. However, recovery is greater when the span of training is greater, regardless of how many sessions there are within that span. Our results and those of others suggest that the numbers and durations and spacings of longer-duration "episodes" in a conditioning protocol (sessions and the spans in days of training and extinction) are important variables and that different variables affect different aspects of subjects' behavior. We discuss the theoretical and clinical implications of these and related findings and conclusions-for theories of conditioning and for neuroscience.The work reported here comprised a portion of a dissertation submitted to Rutgers University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the doctoral degree. EBP designed and did the experiments, did the initial data analyses, and wrote a draft, with some advice from CRG. CRG did several further analyses and wrote the final draft.

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Section: The Fundamental Importance Of Computationally Derived Ratiosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Numerosity In Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Fundamental Importance Of Computationally Derived Ratiosmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Number and time in acquisition, extinction and recovery

Gallistel

Papachristos

2019

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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“…For example, if the length of each conditioning trial of a CRf CS is three times longer than the length of each conditioning trial of a PRf CS reinforced on one third of trials, then the two CSs will have the same total rate of reinforcement despite a difference in how consistently they were reinforced per trial. Several groups have conducted experiments to test this prediction, and all have failed to support it (Bouton et al, 2014;Chan & Harris, 2017, 2019Harris & Kwok, 2018;Haselgrove, Aydin, & Pearce, 2004). In each case, responding to the partially reinforced CS took longer to extinguish than responding to the consistently reinforced CS.…”

Section: Partial Reinforcement and Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…rate of reinforcement during conditioning. I present such an analysis here using the data reported by Chan and Harris (2019). For this analysis, I have used the logarithm of the number of trials to commence extinction for each rat because a preliminary analysis showed that the distribution of trials to extinction was positively skewed and approximated a log-normal distribution (see Figure 3A and 3B).…”

Section: Partial Reinforcement and Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Importance of Trials

Harris¹

2019

Preprint

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Many theories of conditioning describe learning as a process by which stored information about the relationship between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US) is progressively updated upon each occasion (trial) that the CS occurs with, or without, the US. These simple trial-based descriptions can provide a powerful and efficient means of extracting information about the correlation between two events, but they fail to explain how animals learn about the timing of events. This failure has motivated models of conditioning in which animals learn continuously, either by explicitly representing temporal intervals between events, or by sequentially updating an array of associations between temporally distributed elements of the CS and US. Here, I review evidence that some aspects of conditioning are not the consequence of a continuous learning process but reflect a trial-based process. In particular, the way that animals learn about the absence of a predicted US during extinction suggests that they encode and remember trials as single complete episodes rather than as a continuous experience of unfulfilled expectation of the US. These memories allow the animal to recognise repeated instances of non-reinforcement and encode these as a sequence which, in the case of a partial reinforcement schedule, can become associated with the US. The animal is thus able to remember details about the pattern of a CS’s reinforcement history, information that affects how long the animal continues to respond to the CS when all reinforcement ceases.

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Pavlovian learning and conditioned reinforcement

Madden

Mahmoudi

Brown

2023

J of App Behav Analysis

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Conditioned reinforcers are widely used in applied behavior analysis. Basic research evidence reveals that Pavlovian learning plays an important role in the acquisition and efficacy of new conditioned‐reinforcer functions. Thus, a better understanding of Pavlovian principles holds the promise of improving the efficacy of conditioned reinforcement in applied research and practice. This paper surveys how (and if) Pavlovian principles are presented in behavior‐analytic textbooks; imprecisions and knowledge gaps within contemporary Pavlovian empirical findings are highlighted. Thereafter, six practical principles of Pavlovian conditioning are presented along with empirical support and knowledge gaps that should be filled by applied and translational behavior‐analytic researchers. Innovative applications of these principles are outlined for research in language acquisition, token reinforcement, and self‐control.

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The partial reinforcement extinction effect: The proportion of trials reinforced during conditioning predicts the number of trials to extinction.

Cited by 29 publications

References 34 publications

Number and time in acquisition, extinction and recovery

Number and time in acquisition, extinction and recovery

The Importance of Trials

Pavlovian learning and conditioned reinforcement

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