1. PSY402 Theories of Learning
Friday
February 7, 2003

2. Discussion of Class Project
Handout on project – see me to get one if you were not in class today.
Plan due next Wednesday – ½ page briefly describing the behavior to be changed and how you will do it.
IMPORTANT – do not use punishment.
Do nothing that would harm yourself or others.

3. Extinction of Operant Responding
Without reward operant responding gradually stops.
Before it stops (is extinguished), it temporarily increases.
After it stops, with a timeout, spontaneous recovery occurs.
This is similar to classical conditioning.
Without reward, spontaneous recovery also goes away.

4. Hull’s Explanation
Environmental cues present during nonrewarded behavior become associated with the inhibitory state.
Example:
A rat runs down alley but gets no reward.
An inhibition response is elicited.
Inhibition is associated with the alley.
The alley evokes inhibition next time.

5. Amsel’s Explanation
Amsel – nonreward elicits frustration, an aversive state.
Environmental cues associated with nonreward become able to elicit frustration.
Escape from frustration is rewarded because the animal feels better (relief).
Operant behavior is not performed in order to avoid (escape) the frustration of nonreward.

6. Nonreward is Aversive
Adelman & Maatsch – animals jump out of box associated with nonreward:
5 sec if not rewarded
20 sec if rewarded for jumping out
60 extinction trials if rewarded, 100+ if not rewarded
Daly – nonreward cues are aversive
Motivate behavior to terminate cue.

7. Nonreward Can Increase Behavior
If frustration cues are associated with appetitive instead of avoidance behavior, responding increases.
Alternation of rewarded trials:
Responding increases after a nonrewarded trial, decreases after a rewarded trial.
Capaldi – animals have a memory for previous reward.

8. Resistance to Extinction
Three factors affect how quickly extinction occurs:
Reward magnitude (in relation to length of training)
Delay of reward experienced during acquisition training.
Consistency of reinforcement during acquisition training.

9. Reward Size Effect on extinction depends on number of learning trials:
With a few trials, higher reward leads to slower extinction.
With extended training, high reward leads to faster extinction.
D’Amato -- Anticipatory goal states and frustration cause this shift.

10. Effects of Frustration
Frustration builds up when there is a strong anticipatory goal response (expectation of reward).
With small reward, there is little anticipation and little frustration, so only acquisition trials matter.
With more training and large reward, greater anticipation leads to greater frustration which leads to faster extinction.

11. Effects of Delay and Consistency
Only variable delay (not constant delay), when substantial (20-30 sec) makes extinction slower.
Intermittent reinforcement – if the response was not reinforced very time it occurred, extinction is slower.
Partial Reinforcement Effect

12. Partial Reinforcement Effect (PRE)
Extinction is slowest when behavior was intermittently reinforced during learning.
With humans, the lower the slot machine payoff, the longer people play (resistance to extinction).
But, if the percent of reinforced trials is too low, rapid extinction occurs (U-shaped relationship).

13. Explanations for PRE Two explanations:
Amsel – frustration-based
Capaldi – sequential theory
Both provide good explanations for observed data.

14. Amsel’s Frustration Theory
Frustration leads to rapid extinction during continuous reinforcement.
During intermittent reinforcement, frustration becomes associated with responding.
Frustration then elicits not suppresses responding.

15. Capaldi’s Sequential Theory
If reward follows a nonrewarded trial, memory of the nonrewarded trial is associated with responding.
During continuous reinforcement, animals do not associate lack of reward with responding.
When they encounter the first nonrewarded trial, the state it produces is not associated with responding.

16. Contingency Management
Assessment phase – determine the frequency of behavior and the situations in which it occurs.
Contracting phase – specifies the relationship between responding and reinforcement.
Management phase – implement the contract and evaluate results.