CH. 8 extinction and stimulus control

Extinction as a Procedure

The nonreinforcement of a previously reinforced response, resulting in a decrease in response strength

Extinction as a Process

The resulting decrease in response strength over time when a behavior is no longer reinforced

Side Effects of Extinction

Extinction burst, increased variability, aggression, resurgence, depression, and resistance to extinction

Extinction burst

A temporary increase in the frequency, duration, or intensity of the behavior right after extinction begins

Increased variability

A change in how the behavior is done instead of elimination

Emotional behavior

“Frustration”

Aggression

An emotional response to extinction

Resurgence

The reappearance of previously reinforced alternative behaviors

Depression

Low activity following the extinction

Resistance to extinction

Responding persists after an extinction procedure

Factors for Resistance to Extinction

partial reinforcement, removing unwanted behavior, history of reinforcement, magnitude of reinforcer, degree of deprivation, previous experience, and distinctive signal

Partial reinforcement

Behavior has been maintained on an intermittent schedule

Removing unwanted behavior

Partial reinforcement effect helps account for unwanted behaviors being difficult to eliminate

History of reinforcement

The more reinforcers for a behavior, the longer it will take to extinguish

Magnitude of reinforcer

Higher magnitude means more resistance

Degree of deprivation

Greater deprivation means more resistance

Previous experience

Greater number of exposures means it is quicker to extinguish

Spontaneous recovery

The reappearance of an extinguished response to a conditioned stimulus following a rest period after extinction

Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior (DRO)

The reinforcement of any behavior other than the target behavior that is being extinguished

Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behavior (DRI)

The reinforcement of a behavior that is specifically incompatible with the target behavior being extinguished (Rewarding a child for keeping their hands in their pockets so they physically cannot hit their sibling)

O.C. Generalization

Tendency to emit an operant response in the presence of stimuli that are similar to the original discriminative stimulus (SD)

O.C. Discrimination

Tendency to emit a response only in the presence of a specific stimulus (SD) and not in others.

Generalization gradient

A graphic depiction of the strength of responding in the presence of stimuli that vary along a continuum from the original discriminative stimulus

Discrimination training

The reinforcement of responding in the presence of one stimulus and not another

S (S-delta)

A stimulus that indicates reinforcement is unavailable (the extinction stimulus). (A "Closed" sign on a store door (S) tells you that trying to open the door will not result in entering the shop.)

Peak Shift Effect

Following discrimination training (where an organism learns to respond to an SD and not an S), the peak of the generalization gradient shifts away from the S to a stimulus even further away in the direction opposite the S. (If a pigeon is trained to peck a 550 nm light (SD) and not peck a 540 nm light (S), its highest rate of responding might shift to 560 nm.)

Behavioral Contrast

the phenomenon where a change in the rate of reinforcement on one component of a multiple schedule produced an opposite change in the rate of response on another component

Positive Contrast

An increase in responding for a reinforcer because the alternative reinforcement was degraded or decreased in quality.

Negative Contrast

A drop in responding for a reinforcer because the alternative reinforcement was upgraded or increased in quality.

Anticipatory Contrast

A behavioral contrast effect where the rate of response varies inversely with an upcoming anticipated change in the rate of reinforcement

Errorless Discrimination Training

A discrimination training procedure where the S-delta is introduced early in weak form and gradually strengthened to prevent errors

Delayed matching to sample

A memory task where a subject is shown a sample stimulus, undergoes a brief delay, and must then select the matching stimulus from a set of choices

Directed Forgetting

A variation where a "forget" or "remember" cue is given during the delay, testing whether the subject can intentionally discard unneeded information from working memory.