Extinction and Stimulus Control

Question 1

Extinction

Answer 1

the non-reinforcement of a previously reinforced response, a decrease in the strength of the response occurs
- not unlearning, but learning that the operant response no longer predicts a reward
- decline in response = process of extinction

Question 2

What is a critical step in extinction?

Answer 2

identifying the correct reinforcer that elicits the behaviour
- might think candy makes a child whine, but it could be the accompanying attention from the parent as well - so only removing one won’t be effective (only partially), both must be removed

could also only be the attention, and not the candy, so knowing which is effective is a critical step in extinguishing behaviour

Question 3

Extinction burst

Answer 3

a temporary increase in the frequency and intensity of responding when extinction is first implemented
ex: If someone denies you something you want you’ll yell to obtain what u want
ex: Rat will press the bar rapidly when food is no longer delivered

Question 4

increase in variability

Answer 4

trying a variety of methods for attaining the reward
ex: rat may try pressing the side of the bar
ex: pressing all the apps on ur phone when it wont respond

Question 5

Emotional behaviour

Answer 5

feelings of frustration
ex: rat may feel agitated if it stops getting food

Question 6

aggression

Answer 6

an emotional response
- a rat may attack another rat

Question 7

Resurgence

Answer 7

the reappearance of other behaviors that have once before been effective in getting a reinforcement
ex: rat may dig at the ground
ex: we may try to shut off the phone to restart it

• evolutionary component to it means stronger change of it resurging

Question 8

depression

Answer 8

low activity
ex: the hungry rat may sit in a corner of the cage

Question 9

Problems with side effects of extinction

Answer 9

• may stop extinction from being successful
• side effects can be strengthened if someone gives in and provides the subject with the reinforcer without intent

ex: children who think it’s okay to throw tantrums (mother gives them candy and reinforced wrong behaviour) become adults who may think it’s okay to throw tantrums

Question 10

Resistance to extinction

Answer 10

the extent to which responding persists after the extinction procedure is implemented
- a very persistent response = high resistance to extinction
ex: begging for over an hour
- one that disappears quickly = low resistance to extinction
ex: begging that stops after 5 mins

Question 11

what can the persistence of responding be influenced by?

Answer 11

the presence of a SD
- consistency in the outcome of behavior is important

ex: if a dog begs in the presence of a child (SD), and the child gives him scraps, the dog will continue to beg (persistence) BUT if the dog begs in the presence of a mother (SDp) and gets yelled at, the begging will begin to extinguish

Question 12

What factors can affect resistance to extinction?

Answer 12

• schedule of reinforcement
• history of reinforcement
• magnitude of the reinforcer
• degree of deprivation
• previous experience with extinction
• distinctive signal for extinction

Question 13

schedules of reinforcement

Answer 13

PRF - will extinguish more slowly than a behavior or a CRF schedule - you can’t predict when you’ll get the reinforcer
- resistance is particularly strong following a VR schedule

Question 14

history of reinforcement

Answer 14

the more reinforcers they received for a behavior in the past will lead to a greater resistance to extinction
- It it easier to extinguish an unwanted behavior when it first happens cause it hasn’t been reinforced much yet

Question 15

magnitude of reinforcer:

Answer 15

large magnitude = larger resistance
small magnitide = smaller resitence
ex: lever pressing may take longer to extinguish after training with large pellets of food rather than small ones

Question 16

degree of deprivation

Answer 16

the larger the deprivation, the greater the resistance to extinction
ex: if a rat is only a little hungry it will stop lever pressing sooner than a hungry one

Question 17

previous experience with extinction

Answer 17

when sessions of extinction are alternated with sessions of reinforcement
- the larger the number of prior exposures to extinction, the quicker the behavior will extinguish - decline in spontaneous recovery

if a rat experiences several sessions of extinction randomly with several sessions of reinforcement, it will eventually learn to stop lever pressing soon after the start of an extinction session (will know whats happening)

Question 18

distinctive signal for extinction

Answer 18

when there is an SD that signals extinction, it will be facilitated

Question 19

Differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO)

Answer 19

when another behaviour other than the target behaviour is reinforced, extinction is helped in this case
ex: paying attention to a child if they’re doing anything other than fighting with their sibling

Question 20

Differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior (DRI)

Answer 20

reinforcing a behaviour that is incompatible with the target behaviour
ex: paying attention when a child is acting very friendly with their sibling

Question 21

why are side effects greatly reduced with DRO and DRI

Answer 21

there is no deprivation of reinforcement, something is being reinforced regardless

Question 22

Stimulus control

Answer 22

the presence of a SD affects the probability of the behaviour
ex: if a 2000 hz tome signals that lever pressing will lead to food - then the behaviour of lever pressing is under stimulus control

Question 23

example of an application in removing unwanted behaviours

Answer 23

• if u want to minimize screentime, only check your Facebook account when you get a notification
• where you study can lead to focusing more, if you’re in a library for example you may know you’ll focus more (library becomes a cue for studying)

Question 24

Stimulus generalization

Answer 24

an operant response may be emitted in the presence of a stimulus that is similar to an SD, the more similar, the stronger the response

ex: rat may lever press when it hears a 2000hz tone, it may also press a lever in the presence of a 1800hz tone (similar to 2000)

Question 25

Generalization gradient

Answer 25

varies on a continuum
- a flat gradient means there’s a strong generalization
- a steep gradient means there’s a weak generalization

tones more similar to the original SD are associated with stronger responding but flat is greater and steep is weaker

Question 26

stimulus discrimination

Answer 26

operant response is emitted more in the presence of one stimulus than another

steep curve: weak generalization + strong discrimination
flat: strong generalization + weak discrimination

Question 27

discrimination training

Answer 27

reinforcing responding in the presence of one stimulus and not another (discrimunitive stimulus = S(triangle)

Question 28

S(triangle) - discriminative stimulus for extinction

Answer 28

signals the absence of reinforcement

Question 29

Peak shift effect

Answer 29

the peak of a generalization gradient following discrimination training will shift from SD to a stimulus that is further removed from the S(triangle)

Question 30

multiple schedules

Answer 30

two or more schedules presented in sequence each resulting in reinforcement and each having an SD

        VR20                                    FI 10-sec green key: peck -> food/red key: peck -> food SD                 R             SR/SD            R            SR

different from chained schedules cause a chain schedule requires that all schedules must be completed before the reinforcer is delivered but here, you can deliver food everytime they complete each hurdle

Question 31

behavioural contrast

Answer 31

a change in rate of reinforcement on one component of a multiple schedule produces an opposite change of the rate of RESPONSE on another component, reinforcement goes in one direction, and the response on another component goes in the opposite direction

Question 32

negative contrast effect:

Answer 32

an increase in rate of reinforcement on one component produces a decrease in the response on the other component

ex: if there’s a VR-60 VR-60 schedule, and the schedule for a red key is changed to VR-30, the pigeon will decrease its response on the green key

Question 33

positive contrast effect

Answer 33

decrease in the rate of reinforcement on one component which produces an increase in the rate of response on the other component

ex: VR60 changes to VR120 (red key), the pigeon will act more on the green key because the red key became less attractive

Question 34

anticipatory contrast

Answer 34

the rate of response varies inversely with an upcoming (anticipated) change in the rate of reinforcement

ex: a pigeon will increase their ror for reinforcement when an S(triangle) is presented, they know they will lose the reinforcement soon so they act more vigorously