Extinction responding following partial reinforcement: The effects of number of rewarded trials and magnitude of reward

Abstract

Rats were trained on a daily partial reward schedule of small magnitude of reward (S), nonreward (N), and large magnitude of reward (L), which began with SN or SSNN for all animals. The remainder of the daily schedule was defined by the factorial combination of the number of rewards (1 vs. 3) and the magnitude of reward (S vs. L). Following 18 days of such training, 20 trials of extinction were administered. It was found that increasing the number of rewarded trials in a partial reinforcement schedule decreased resistance to extinction. Furthermore, increased number of large-magnitude rewards reduced resistance to extinction to a greater extent than increased number of small-magnitude rewards. © 1979 Psychonomic Society, Inc.