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Method of stimulus combination impacts resistance to extinction
Author(s) -
Podlesnik Christopher A.,
Bai John Y. H.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1002/jeab.155
Subject(s) - extinction (optical mineralogy) , reinforcement , psychology , stimulus (psychology) , discriminative model , stimulus control , perception , cognitive psychology , skin conductance , discrimination learning , audiology , neuroscience , social psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , biology , medicine , paleontology , biomedical engineering , nicotine
Reinforcing an alternative response in the presence of the stimuli governing a target response increases resistance to extinction of target responding, relative to training target responding on its own. Conversely, training alternative and target responses in the presence of different stimuli and combining those stimuli only decreases resistance to extinction of target responding, relative to target responding on its own. The present study assessed how different methods of combining discriminative stimuli influence resistance to extinction of responding in pigeons. As in previous studies, combining stimuli across different keys only decreased resistance to extinction of target responding relative to target responding on its own. In comparison, combining stimuli on the same key initially increased resistance to extinction of target responding, but repeated tests resulted in similar levels of responding as target responding with stimuli combined on separate keys. Moreover, greater overall reinforcement rates produced greater resistance to extinction with both methods of combining stimuli, consistent with behavioral momentum theory. These findings reveal several behavioral processes influence the outcome of combining stimuli—including perceptual processes, discriminative control by contingencies, response competition, and behavioral momentum.